Barca deny swap deal with City

(GSM) – Barcelona have rubbished claims suggesting that they had agreed a swap deal with Manchester City involving Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The defending La Liga champions made it clear on the Spanish radio that City’s Brazilian forward is not set to move to the Camp Nou, with Ibrahimovic heading to Eastlands in a combined offer.

However, Barca vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu admitted the club will monitor Robinho’s activity and has not ruled out the club tabling a reported £17million bid for the former Real Madrid ace.

“We have been working in the market for many months with some names but the decision of Guardiola is (to buy) the young players for the squad and the club accepts this decision,” he told Catalan newspaper Sport.

“That doesn’t mean that by the close of the transfer window we will not have made a signing, if there is a good option.”

The Catalan supremo dismissed speculation that Roberto Mancini had tabled a bid for Ibrahimovic, insisting: “Until today, Manchester City not have placed money on the table for the sale of Ibrahimovic.”