France international Kylian Mbappe has revealed he encouraged his compatriot Ousmane Dembele to join Barcelona.

The 20-year-old forward, who joined Borussia Dortmund in 2016, made a switch to the Catalan club for a club-record fee of €105m (£97m, $125m) plus add-ons in the recently-concluded summer transfer window.

Mbappe, who was himself linked with moves to Real Madrid and Barcelona, left AS Monaco to secure a transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, with the Parc des Princes outfit having the option of signing the teenager permanently in the summer of 2018.

The 18-year-old will play alongside Neymar, who completed a world-record switch to PSG from Barcelona, with Dembele signed as his replacement at Camp Nou.

Mbappe believes the former Rennes man will benefit from playing alongside the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, while leading Barcelona's attack.

"We talked about it and he asked me what I thought. I told him to go there because it was a great opportunity for him," Mbappe told Foot Mercato.

"He can really become a great player alongside Messi and Suarez in attack. He's really going to improve. He already has incredible talent, but he can make another step up."

Dembele has now become the second-most expensive player in the world after Neymar. However, should PSG decide to take the option of signing Mbappe after the end of this season, they will have to pay a fee of around €180m (£166m) which will trump Dembele's price tag, reports the Guardian.

Mbappe stressed that the fee associated with the transfer will not have any impact on their performances. "[Dembele and I] have a passion for football. All that about 'prices' or whatever doesn't worry us. All we care about is the pitch," he said.

"We want to play as we have always played since we started football, each of us in our home towns. It's not a question of value or principle, it's just a question of passion, feeling, of that love of the game."

Ousmane Dembele-Kylian Mbappe
Ousmane Dembele (L) and Kylian Mbappe both moved to new clubs in the summer transfer window