Barcelona Transfer News: Latest Rumours on Luka Modric and Gelson Martins

Barcelona turned down the opportunity to sign Real Madrid marvel Luka Modric in 2008, when he moved to Tottenham Hotspur, according to reports. Elsewhere, the agent of Sporting CP star Gelson Martins has insisted his client is "going nowhere."

The father of ex-Barca starlet Bojan Krkic—also referred to as Bojan—was working as a scout for the club at the time, and he recently appeared on the Que t'hi jugues! programme on the SER Catalunya radio station (h/t Sport), where he said:

"

I saw it clearly, also the case of [Franck] Ribery (...) we had it in our hands. Modric was a player with a winning mentality, but the club weren't thinking about the future, only in the short-to-medium-term.

Our contact in Croatia spoke wonders of Modric before he signed for Tottenham. I was working for Barça then and they sent us various DVDs with Dynamo Zagreb and the Croatian national team.

Xavi, Iniesta, Toure and Busquets [in the B team]. They didn't contemplate the option of signing.

"

Modric instead went on to join Tottenham from Dinamo Zagreb that summer and spent four years at White Hart Lane before completing a £30 million move to Barca rivals Real Madrid in 2008, per BBC Sport.

Four-and-a-half years later, and the Croat is playing the best football of his career for Los Merengues, illustrated in a tide-turning display in Saturday's 1-1 El Clasico draw, per Real Madrid TV presenter Phil Kitromilides:

Looking back, the Blaugrana may well regret their failure to capture a young Modric, although one could argue he wouldn't have reached the same heights playing second fiddle to Andres Iniesta and Xavi, the latter of who is now at Qatari club Al Sadd.

What's more, Tottenham might have demanded a higher fee for their star had they been more aware of the talent he would go on to become, according to Yahoo Sport UK writer Andrew Gaffney:

Modric, 31, has a little more than three-and-a-half years remaining on his Real contract and is likely to see out his remaining peak years in the capital, potentially rubbing salt in Barca's wound for their failure to capture his services.

Bojan went on to add Modric showed all the hallmarks of a class act during a meeting while he was still based in Zagreb, a talent who has come back to haunt them as Los Blancos now sit six points clear at La Liga's summit:

"

We made Modric travel [here] to get to know him. We were chatting in the Princesa Sofia with him and his girlfriend. We took a coffee. He left a great impression. He was speaking fluent English and he came across as very intelligent and switched on. Very calm.

He was one of those players that didn't like coming out in the press much. And he's demonstrating it with Real Madrid now. He's a discrete and humble player. I saw that clearly.

"

In more current transfer affairs, the agent of Sporting winger and reported Barcelona target Gelson has dashed any speculation of a move by insisting the Portugal international is happy in his current setting.

Speaking to Portuguese newspaper A Bola (h/t FourFourTwo), Ulisses Santos said Gelson is certain to remain with Sporting for now, adding talks over a new deal are underway.

"There is no proposal," Santos said. "He is a Sporting player and will continue to be in January. With all certainty, he will not leave. He has a long contract and will not leave. We are in talks, and we will see what will happen. The environment is good, and we will, I'm sure, reach a good understanding."

The FourFourTwo report added Manchester United and Real are also examining the 21-year-old as he draws widespread attention following a breakout 2015-16 campaign, during which he scored seven goals in 42 games.

Gelson already has two goals and six assists to his name in 12 Primeira Liga appearances this season, and it appears Barca will need to play the waiting game if they wish to get their hands on the mercurial maestro.