Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has moved quickly to play down speculation linking Liverpool with forward Alexis Sanchez.
Quite the tenuous link, Paul Hetherington of the Daily Star suggested this week that Liverpool had targeted the Chilean international, with £18 million being touted as their potential offer.
Speculation over Sanchez’s future was blown up even more when he didn’t appear in Barcelona’s promotion photos for next season’s kit:
Barcelona unveil home kit for next season. Cesc, Alves, Sanchez, Pedro & Mascherano don't feature #transferlist #fcb pic.twitter.com/ZKmO3lxmYd
— Max Bentley (@MaxBentley1) May 20, 2014
But Barcelona officials insist Sanchez is not for sale.
“He’s not on the market. He has an active contract,” Bartomeu told Spanish sports newspaper Marca.
“[He] is in our plans for next season. We’ve always needed him because he’s very highly valued as a player at this club.”
Sanchez made 34 appearances for the Catalan giants in La Liga last season, scoring 19 goals.
He created 47 goalscoring chances for teammates, and had a 59% shot accuracy record for the season, according to stats website Squawka.
Sanchez’s teammate at the Camp Nou, Pedro, has also been linked with a move to Liverpool this summer.
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Both players will be in action in this summer’s World Cup, with Sanchez’s Chile taking on Pedro’s Spain in one of their group matches.
Recently on This Is Anfield, Henry Jackson noted five reported Liverpool transfer targets to look out for when the World Cup gets underway in Brazil on Thursday, June 12th.
- Keep up to date with all the latest Liverpool transfer rumours in our Rumour Mill section throughout the summer.
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