Barcelona president Joan Laporta has said that his club will not be signing either Real Sociedad's Martin Zubimendi or Bayern Munich's Joshua Kimmich this summer due to the cost of the deals.
The Catalan outfit have already secured the signature of Ilkay Gundogan on a free transfer from Manchester City, but at least one more midfielder is expected to arrive in the current market, with Sergio Busquets leaving the club following the expiration of his contract.
Zubimendi and Kimmich are both thought to have been targets for Barcelona this summer, but Laporta has revealed that neither will be arriving for financial reasons.
"These are operations that we are not considering at the moment, due to the significant economic level," Laporta told TV3 when asked about the duo.
Marcelo Brozovic has also been linked with a move for Inter Milan, but he is thought to be on the verge of completing a switch to Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Nassr.
"Brozovic is also a similar case, perhaps more affordable, but he has a proposal from Arabia and we will not enter into a bidding war," Laporta added on the club's midfielder search.
There have been claims that Oriol Romeu, who came through the youth system at Barcelona, had emerged as a target for the club this summer.
The 31-year-old currently plays for Girona, having made the move to the Catalan side from Southampton last year, and Laporta has refused to rule out a move for the former Chelsea youngster.
"As for Oriol Romeu, Deco, and Mateu [Alemany] will work on that. There are a number of names that we like and we are working on them," added the club's president.
Laporta also opened up on Gundogan's arrival from Man City before discussing the contract situation of head coach Xavi, who only has a deal at Camp Nou until the end of next season.
"He is a player who has preferred to go to a club with prestige and has put it ahead of the money at City. Xavi has also given the player confidence. We signed a player with experience. A European champion is coming, a player with proven experience," he said on Gundogan.
"When the time comes we will talk. First there are priorities and Xavi understands that. We'll talk calmly, but we want him to continue and so does he. I'm convinced that he will go further. We haven't set a date."
Laporta has also confirmed that Barcelona are working on a deal for Fenerbahce teenager Arda Guler, with the club's sporting director Deco in Turkey on Thursday for transfer talks. body check tags ::
