Barcelona president Joan Laporta has insisted the Blaugrana do not need to sell Manchester United target Frenkie de Jong to ease their financial problems.
Xavi’s side announced a two-year extension for Ousmane Dembele on Thursday after already signing Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie.
Raphinha became Barca’s next transfer window signing on Friday, joining from Leeds United in a deal reportedly worth up to €67m (£56.6m).
It has also been reported that Barca will press ahead with their attempts to sign Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski in the coming days.
While Barca continue to bring in new faces, the Blaugrana are unable to register their signings as they battle Financial Fair Play rules.
It has been repeatedly suggested that the LaLiga club need to cash in on assets to alleviate these problems, with De Jong among the favorites to leave.
Earlier this week, Man United and Barcelona reportedly agreed a £63m (€75m) deal, with a further £8.5m (€10m) possible add-ons.
Yet De Jong is clearly still keen to stay at Camp Nou and Laporta has now suggested that there is in fact no demand from Barca to sell the midfielder.
“It is not true that we are forced to sell Frenkie de Jong, it is not right,” Laporta said as Raphinha was welcomed at the press conference.
“Xavi will decide Frenkie’s trip to the United States [on the pre-season tour].
However, Barcelona director Mateu Alemany appeared to contradict Laporte’s claims.
“Frenkie is a very important player and we count on him. But we know that La Liga’s Fair Play tells us to sell the player,” Alemany said shortly after Laporte at the same media conference.
“I can’t say more [about the Frenkie-Man Utd deal].”
The Hag will be hoping to partner De Jong with Christian Eriksen in midfield after United confirmed the signing of the Denmark international on a three-year deal on Friday.
