Laporta: Deco in Istanbul for 'Turkish Messi'

Apart from the signing of Ilkay Gundogan, Barcelona have had a relatively quiet start to the transfer window this summer. Speaking to TV channel 'Onze TV3', the club's president, Joan Laporta, discussed the club's recent summer windows, and has few regrets abouts his strategies.

Last summer, Frenkie de Jong was linked with a move to Manchester United, who looked ready to splash out to attract the Dutchman to the Premier League. Ultimately, the deal didn't go through, which the Spanish president believes was a very good thing.

"Last year we received an offer for €100 million for Frenkie de Jong .. and we did well not to sell him. There are players who should not be on the market", he explained, "there are players who are fundamental for this competitive team that we must continue to develop. We received offers for Pedri, Ansu Fati, Christensen, De Jong, Araujo. We think they should continue because they have a present and a future here".

On the subject of arrivals, Joan Laporta confirmed that Barca are out of the running for Marcelo Brozovic, who will sign for Al Nassr. "These are operations we're not considering because of the financial implications. Brozovic is more affordable, but he has an offer from Saudi Arabia that we can't compete with. Oriol Romeu? Let's leave it to the people in charge. Mateu and Deco. There are names we like and the technical director is working on them", explained the Catalan boss.

Finally, the Barca president was optimistic about the situation of young Turkish star Arda Guler, who's been dubbed by British media as the 'Turkish Messi'. "Deco was in Istanbul. Now, La Liga allows us to make operations that don't count for this year. Our scouts were following him. We also have Deco's opinion, who thinks he's a great talent. We're trying to close the deal".