Barcelona have given up their pursuit of Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar but will make a renewed effort to sign the Brazilian superstar next summer, sources have told ESPN FC.
Sources close to the Ligue 1 champions also confirmed on Saturday that the deal is off and that Neymar will be staying in Paris.
Following weeks of negotiations with Paris Saint-Germain, Barca have been unable to strike a deal to bring Neymar back to Camp Nou.
However, sources at Barca have told ESPN FC that they don't view this as the end of the saga. The club have not ruled out returning with another offer next summer for a player they consider to be a "strategic" signing -- someone who brings the club as much on the pitch as he does off it.
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The hierarchy at the club has appreciated the part played by Neymar during the negotiations with PSG, according to sources, with Barcelona saying he had expressed a desire to come back and exerted pressure on the French club to let him go.
Speaking on Friday, PSG's sporting director Leonardo said the club were still open to selling the Brazilian if Barca made an acceptable offer, but that none had arrived. Now with 48 hours to go until the window shuts, that is looking improbable.
Despite PSG's apparent openness to sell, sources at Barca claim that a deal this summer became impossible when faced with the Ligue 1 side's reluctance to reduce their asking price for the forward, who they signed for €222 million from the Catalans in 2017.
Barca have been working on the viability of doing a deal for two months but they cannot put the club's financial health at risk. Matching PSG's demands would signify a huge initial outlay in addition to another huge salary on the books.
ESPN FC first revealed on June 17 that Barca believed it would be possible to sign both Antoine Griezmann and Neymar. Therefore, once they bought the French forward from Atletico Madrid for €120m in July, they began to work on a deal for Neymar.
"It's difficult but complicated," a club source told ESPN FC at the time, but the Spanish champions have been unable to get PSG to budge.
Barca made three offers in the end, with all of them rejected. The first bid included Philippe Coutinho, Ivan Rakitic and cash between the value of €80m and €100m. PSG were keen on Coutinho being included, so his loan move to Bayern Munich set the talks back.
Barca later returned with an offer to take Neymar on loan this season with an option to sign him next summer which was also declined.
The third and final offer was based on a figure of €170m, with Rakitic and Jean Clair Todibo plus the loan of Ousmane Dembele included to bring the money part of the transfer down to around €130m.
However, none of the three players were keen on being included in the deal.
Real Madrid and Juventus have also been linked with Neymar throughout the summer, but Leonardo said on Friday that Barcelona were the only side who PSG had held talks with.
ESPN FC's Julien Laurens contributed to this story.