Deal on Filipe could be closed today

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona could close the transfer deal on Deportivo La Coruña left back defender Filipe Luis (23) today.

Barcelona would have raised late last night its bid with 1 million euro to 9 million euro° and promised Deportivo president Augusto César Lendoiro that the total fee immediately will be paid cash.

The player's agent Juan Figer is quoted as saying that the negotiations will definitely be broken if this offer isn't accepted.

Read more:
Deportivo rejects bid for Filipe
Filipe putting pressure on Deportivo
Deadline for Filipe transfer

Deportivo rejects bid for Filipe

Deportivo La Coruña president Augusto César Lendoiro has said at a press conference that his club has rejected an 8 million euro° bid by Barcelona for Deportivo left back defender Filipe Luis (23):

"There's no deal. I've informed the agent of the player and an intermediary that if the player would decide to leave for another team, this issue should be solved immediately. We don't want to let him go because it's difficult to find a substitute on the market."

Lendoiro had yesterday evening a dinner with the player's agent José Carlos Lages, who had arrived earlier that day from São Paulo, to discuss the situation of the Brazilian left back defender.

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Lendoiro told Lages that he's only willing to let Filipe go for the buyout clause of 20 million euro°. The agent will now reportedly inform Barcelona about the meeting and the two clubs are expected to directly talk with each other from now on. Barcelona would want to offer 10 million euro° plus a player.

A Coruña local newspaper La Opinión A Coruña, that says that intermediary Juan Figer also took part in the meeting, claims that Deportivo wants to hold on to the player and that he will only leave for the buyout clause or a fee close to that. Atlético Madrid, Olympique Lyon and Juventus would also be interested.

Madrid sports paper As claims that Lages made clear that Filipe prefers to join Barcelona. While Deportivo would be willing to drop to 15 million euro°, Barcelona would have offered 10 million euro°. A deal could be found around 12-13 million euro°. Deportivo would have offered to include Barcelona players Pedro (21) or Víctor Sánchez (21) but Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola would count on the players, especially on Pedro, for next season.

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that it's Figer, one of the two agents of Filipe, who is most involved in the talks since Deportivo still has to pay him 700 000 euro from Filipe's transfer. Barcelona would have offered 8 million euro°, while Deportivo has asked for 10 million euro° plus the loan of one player. Catalan television channel TV3 claims that Barcelona has put a limit of 9 million euro°.

Read more:
Filipe could sign five-year deal on Monday
Barcelona has been in contact with 22 players
Deportivo asking too much for left back Filipe

Alex Silva unaware of Barcelona interest

Asked about the rumours linking him with a move to Barcelona (read more here), São Paulo central defender and Brazilian international Alex Silva (23) said in a reaction to Brazilian news agency Agência Estado that he is unaware of the interest:

"I'm not in a hurry to go and play abroad. My brother (Benfica defender Luisão) did already left and is helping the family. But Barcelona of course is a different thing compared with the other clubs mentioned. I don't know about their interest but if they want to come and get me, I'll be here waiting."

The agency claims that Sãu Paulo only ownes 20 per cent of the transfer rights on Alex Silva. The other 80 per cent belong to the player's agent Juan Figer. German club Wolfsburg would already have made a bid of 13 million euro° for the central defender.

Read more:

Brazilian defender Alex Silva high on list

Barcelona admits following Hernanes for months

Youth: Douglas Costa de Souza (Gremio)