It has been reported that La Liga giants, FC Barcelona, are eying a summer transfer for Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata.
Initial contact
It has been reported that the Catalan club and representatives of the Spaniard have made initial contact in the last few months with a meeting between taking place in the player's homeland of Spain, however, it is believed talks have yet to progress beyond that point.
Barcelona considered a move for Mata 18 months ago but the deal seemed infeasible considering Mata had just recently just made his £37m move from Chelsea to Old Trafford.
It is believed that Barcelona manager, Luis Enrique, who is from the same region of northern Spain as the 27-year-old, is looking for a creative midfielder to lift the weight of Andres Iniesta and provide support to the trio of Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi.
No such deal
Despite numerous rumors surrounding the future of the former Valencia player, his representatives have quashed the rumors of a move to the Camp Nou.
The individual’s representatives insist that they know nothing of such a meeting with Barcelona and insist that Mata will be remaining at Old Trafford for the foreseeable future.
Montoya moves on
As many clubs were putting together last-minute deals as the January transfer window was coming to a close, Barcelona were dipping their toes into the action but it was more departures than arrivals.
Those departures were in the form of Martin Montoya, who made a loan move to fellow La Liga side Real Betis until the end of June.
The 25-year-old, who had been at the club since the age of eight, had initially been on loan at Serie A side Inter Milan until the end of the current campaign but the deal was terminated to allow the move to the Estadio Benito Villamarin.
FC Barcelona will return to action in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final against Valencia at Camp Nou on Wednesday, February 3 with kick-off at 8PM BST.