Paris Saint-Germain sporting director Antero Henrique has hit back at Adrien Rabiot's agent, stating that the player and Barcelona tried to strong-arm the club into an unsatisfactory sale over the summer.
Rabiot, who is out of contract at the end of the 2018-19 season, has been banished from the PSG ranks after making clear his intention to leave the club.
The midfielder's mother and agent, Veronique Rabiot, later confirmed he would be vacating Parc des Princes, while slamming the club for blocking a move to Barca last summer.
But according to Henrique, PSG were left extremely bemused by the Catalans' approach just days before deadline day.
"Madame Rabiot said that we received an offer this summer. This is true, we received a bid on the 29th August, 20 hours before the closure of the summer transfer window," he fired to RMC.
"It is simple, this means that Barcelona must have had an agreement with Rabiot before coming to discuss with us. You have to know that Barcelona’s offer was ridiculous.
"For us, the club, we were very surprised by this low offer. The offer was disrespectful for some of Rabiot’s standing. I insist, it is not possible to reach an agreement with a player like Adrien in 24 hours.
"So it is clear that Barcelona must have already had an agreement with Adrien."
While Veronique Rabiot also held that her son had not agreed a move with any other club ahead of his prospective free transfer in June, Henrique cast doubt on those claims.
"I have to make clear that from the moment we had found an agreement in principle to extend the player’s deal, his representative and the lawyers, without an explanation, stopped negotiations," he added.
"I am sure that he has found an agreement with another club. When they stopped negotiations, it was clear for me that Adrien had a deal with another club.
"Could Rabiot leave this winter? He told me he doesn’t want to stay at PSG."