If Chelsea are looking for a big-name signing to truly kick-start Mauricio Pochettino's tenure as head coach, they do not come much bigger than Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar.

According to The Athletic, that is a possibility as PSG are open to getting the big-earning forward – on wages of £933k a week at the Parc des Princes, according to Capology – off their books this summer.

Is PSG superstar Neymar a realistic target for Chelsea?

Six years on from becoming the most expensive footballer in history when joining from Barcelona for a fee of €222m (£198m), Neymar's time in the French capital may finally be up.

The report suggests Chelsea hold an interest in the Brazil international, and the transfer is now a lot more feasible due to the Blues getting a number of their own big earners off the books early in the transfer window.

PSG would ideally still like to recoup some of the mammoth fee they splashed out on Neymar, but with the forward having two years of his contract to run, it is suggested removing his reported £48.5m annual salary off their books is also appealing.

Can Neymar still do a job in the Premier League?

This is not the first time Neymar has been linked with a move to the Premier League – or indeed Chelsea – with Manchester United said to also be showing an interest this summer.

There is no doubt that the samba star is not as highly regarded as he once was, not helped by a period of stagnation at PSG despite an influx of the world's greatest players, including Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.

However, on the basis of last season, the £49m-rated Neymar is still as good as any player in the world in a number of areas. Indeed, he ranks in the top 1% of all forwards across Europe's top five leagues last season for chances created, as per The Analyst, while nobody can better him for touches of the ball.

Neymar is also in the top 5% for goals scored, netting 13 of them last season and assisting 11 more in 20 Ligue 1 outings. Many will point to the quality of the French top flight, but Neymar has scored regularly now in both LaLiga and Ligue 1.

It is a goalscorer Chelsea desperately crave, and in Neymar they would be signing a player who has scored 359 times in 584 career appearances for Santos, Barcelona and PSG.

As Brazil colleague at the time David Luiz put it previously, Neymar is a "phenomenon" – a status that he continues to justify based on the statistics alone, even if he has his many doubters.

With Christopher Nkunku having already arrived from RB Leipzig this summer, Chelsea could find his ideal partner in Neymar. Nkunku is himself a goalscorer (top 4% in Europe's top five leagues last season), and would surely thrive off the creativity that the Brazilian brings.

While there is no dispelling the fact Neymar struggles in certain defensive metrics, he ranks higher than expected for possession won – in the top 32% of forwards across Europe's elite divisions.

Interestingly, as per The Analyst, the two players most like Nkunku right now are Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, who formed one of the Premier League's all-time great attacks alongside Roberto Firmino.

Neymar, meanwhile, is very alike Vinicius Junior in terms of their statistical profiles, and his compatriot did not exactly struggle to form a strong partnership with Karim Benzema at Real Madrid.

For all the talk that Neymar will take balance away from a team, there is just as much evidence to suggest he and Nkunku could tear up the Premier League in a double transfer that would seriously ignite Pochettino's tenure.