Barcelona Transfer News: Aymeric Laporte and Nolito Double Blow, Latest Rumours

Barcelona's hopes of signing Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte and Celta Vigo forward Nolito have been seriously dented.

According to talkSPORT, Laporte played down rumours he could leave the Basque club for Barca or Manchester United, telling AS:

"

My name is mentioned in every transfer window and with a lot of teams.

I've renewed four times with Athletic. I've done what I wanted, I've shown confidence in the club and them in me.

Let's see if we can add more trophies.

"

The highly coveted 21-year-old would make a fine addition to any side, and Barca in particular.

Midfielder Javier Mascherano is often called on to partner Gerard Pique at centre-back with the only other alternatives being the unconvincing Jeremy Mathieu and the injury-prone Thomas Vermaelen, who has hardly featured for the Blaugrana since joining them in 2014.

The Argentinian has filled in competently, but now 31, he's no longer a long-term solution for manager Luis Enrique.

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Laporte is a highly talented youngster with an outstanding future ahead of him. WhoScored.com demonstrates his commitment to winning the ball for his team:

Indeed, according to Squawka, he won 55 per cent of his attempted tackles and an incredible 68 per cent of his aerial duels last season.

Football journalist Rafael Hernandez is a big fan of the Frenchman:

Laporte is clearly committed to Athletic, though, so he won't easily be prised away—even by Barcelona.

According to Transfermarkt, he's contracted at San Mames until 2019, so a move in the near future does not look likely.

His tender age means he would still be long-term acquisition even if signed at the end of his current contract, so don't expect Barca to give up all hope of landing him later in his career.

As for Nolito, according to AS, the Spaniard will be handed a pay-increase and an extension at Celta. To make matters worse for Barca, the deal would see his release clause rise from €18 million to €25 million.

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Per the report, Celta sporting director Miguel Torrecilla said of the speculation linking Nolito to his former club, "We can't talk about hypothetical situations, we have to enjoy the reality."

However, he did concede that, "When there is a release clause in a contract, nobody can guarantee anything; nobody can prevent it from being triggered."

After bagging 18 goals and 17 assists since the start of last season, Nolito's raise would be well-deserved, as would a return to the Catalan giants, where he plied his trade as a youngster in over 100 appearances for Barcelona B.

The forward would make an excellent replacement for the departed Pedro and has previously admitted he would be content to back up Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.

As Opta Jose illustrates, the 28-year-old possesses immense creativity in the final third:

However, if he does sign the extension, he's not likely to return to the Camp Nou. He turns 29 on October 15, so his age already ensures that he's only worth signing either in January or next summer at the latest in terms of being able to get the most out of him.

If his release clause goes up, Barca will undoubtedly pursue younger and cheaper targets.