Hamburg to sign Alen Halilovic from Barcelona on a year long loan

Hamburg are set to win the race to sign Alen Halilovic from Barcelona after tempting the Catalans to accept an €800,000 loan deal.

The 19-year-old Croatia star had appeared set to complete a move to Sporting Gijon ahead of the 2015-16 season, but Barca put the loan on hold after receiving a number of other enquiries.

Teams including Porto, West Ham, Stoke City and Grasshopper Zurich are understood to have submitted proposals but it is the Bundesliga side who have put forward the favoured offer.

HSV are willing to pay €800k in order to take Halilovic on loan for the season, while they have not requested a clause to retain the option to buy the player - a move which Barca, who are keen to keep the young midfielder in the long term, are happy with.

Sporting Gijon's offer, meanwhile, did not include payment of any kind, meaning the European champions are now more disposed to send Halilovic to the Bundesliga.

Barca and Hamburg must now finalise the details of the deal, with the Liga champions keen to ensure that Halilovic plays at least 60 per cent of all HSV games for which he is available during the coming campaign. The German club would be forced to pay a €2.4 million fee should such an agreement be broken.

Halilovic, signed from Dinamo Zagreb last year, is currently with the Barca squad ahead of the Uefa Super Cup clash with Sevilla on Tuesday.