Barcelona join race for Kylian Mbappe with Xavi planning meeting to convince French superstar to turn down Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain

Barcelona have joined the race to sign Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe, challenging Real Madrid for one of football’s most sought-after talents.

Mbappe’s contract with PSG expires this summer, when he will be able to join another team for free, but his current side are still making every effort to convince him to stay.

Their ambitions took a huge knock at the start of March when PSG were dumped out of the Champions League in humiliating fashion by suitors Madrid, when a Karim Benzema hat-trick wiped out two Mbappe goals.

Madrid have long appeared to be front-runners for the man mooted to be a boyhood fan of the club, but they may now have a stumbling block in the shape of their fiercest rivals.

French outlet L’Equipe are reporting that Mbappe has left the door open for Barcelona, who continue to be surprisingly active in the transfer market despite their extraordinary debt.

Little over a year ago returning president Joan Laporta revealed the club were in the red by a whopping €1.3billion, which eventually led to them losing their greatest ever player, Lionel Messi, who joined PSG for free.

The tables may now be turned by Barca, who have seen a recent influx of cash thanks to a €280million (£212m) sponsorship deal with Spotify and a €595m (£450.7m) loan from Goldman Sachs.

L’Equipe report that Mbappe hasn’t ruled out a move to the Catalan giants and is yet to make a decision on his future, with new Barca boss Xavi Hernandez a key factor.