The father of Barcelona attacker Alen Halilovic has confirmed that Valencia are currently in discussions to sign his son, but no deal has been agreed between the two Spanish clubs.

Halilovic, 19, joined Barcelona from Dinamo Zagreb in July 2014, but represented the Catalan club's B team during the 2014-15 season, before joining Sporting Gijon on loan in last summer's transfer window.

Barcelona reportedly still see the Croatian as a future first-team player but would prefer that he spent another season out on loan, and Valencia have been strongly linked with a move.

"It's true there are negotiations [with Valencia] but nothing has been finalised yet. He should be happy to have played in such a strong league at 19. He played 36 games for Sporting, 25 from the first minute. Few at his age have done that. It's hard to play against mainly defence-orientated teams," AS quotes Sejad Halilovic as saying.

"[Alen] wants to go back to Barca but the club believes it'd be good to play another year elsewhere and get more games. It's hard to find a club serious about signing for a year and developing a player for another club, even for Barca. I don't know what will happen."

Halilovic has already earned eight international caps for Croatia.