Paris Saint-Germain are increasingly confident of signing Neymar from Barcelona and Alexis Sánchez from Arsenal in the next few days in what would rank as one of the biggest double-signings in football history.

Nasser al Khelaifi, the PSG chairman, is working on a potential world-record €222m (£199m) deal for Neymar while Antero Henrique, the club’s sporting director, is focusing on a deal to lure Sánchez. Henrique spent Friday afternoon with the Chile forward and his agent, Fernando Felicevich, at the luxurious Royal Monceau hotel in the centre of the French capital. The two camps are close to an agreement regarding the player.

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PSG will then have to convince Arsenal to sell a player who has only 12 months left on his contract with the London club. An opening offer of €45m (£40.3m) is expected to be lodged quickly by the French club and it could help their cause that Arsène Wenger has a great relationship with Al Khelaifi, who has been employing the Arsenal manager for many years at Al Jazeera and beIN Sports TV channels.

It is likely, though, that Arsenal will reject PSG’s initial advances in an attempt to try to keep their star player at the Emirates Stadium next season. However, Sanchez is adamant that he wants to play in the Champions League next season and that wants to swap London for Paris. PSG are likely to increase their offer to €50m (£44.8m).

Simultaneously the six-times French champions are working on the structure of a deal to finalise the arrival of Neymar. The Brazil forward has a release clause of €222m and Barcelona cannot prevent the player from leaving if a club pays it. The salary for the 25-year-old could reach €40m (£35.8m) a year, with bonuses included.

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Even if PSG comply totally with financial fair play rules and even if the economic impact of recruiting Neymar would be huge, they have to be careful on how this deal is done. Nevertheless, sources close to the club told the Guardian on Friday night that Neymar wanted to leave Barcelona for PSG. The French newspaper Le Parisien also reported on Friday that he had told some of his Barça team-mates that he was joining his friends Thiago Silva, Dani Alves, Marquinhos and Lucas at the Parc des Princes. Neymar Sr, the player’s father, is expected to travel to Paris himself over the weekend to finalise the deal.

Neymar was close to join PSG last summer but eventually decided to stay in Spain and signed a new improved deal at Camp Nou tying him to the club until June 2021. This time the player has made his mind up on a move which, if it comes off, would be the most expensive signing of all time.