Barcelona not planning new attempt to sign Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho in January

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has suggested that the La Liga giants will not make a new attempt to sign Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho or any other player during the January transfer window - as they instead expect long-term injury victim Ousmane Dembele to be back for the second part of the season.

The Catalans made four additions to Ernesto Valverde's ranks during the summer in the form of Paulinho, Nelson Semedo, Gerard Deulofeu and Dembele.

However, it has been said that they could bolster their squad further in January following unsuccessful attempts to sign Coutinho or Paris Saint-Germain's Angel Di Maria on deadline day.

But asked in an interview with TVE whether Barcelona will make a new attempt to sign the Liverpool ace in the New Year, Bartomeu replied: "Right now there is nothing planned for the January window.

"[Technical secretary] Robert Fernandez, [sporting football manager] Pep Segura and their team will work to see if they believe it is necessary to do something.

"Barcelona have to invest more in La Masia and in the youth teams. We have to generate more income to be able to compete with the teams who have money that does not come from the football industry. We have to be strong with Fifa and Uefa for clubs to respect the Financial Fair Play regulations. I am happy that Uefa have opened an investigation into PSG.

"We have signed what we wanted to sign in the summer. Robert made a plan in January and February and those names are already here. Some of the others cannot come. We wanted to sign a midfielder and a right-back and we brought Paulinho and Semedo. Dembele arrived due to Neymar's departure and Deulofeu had to return because he grew up in the academy."

Bartomeu insisted that Barcelona opted against signing Coutinho after Liverpool asked them to pay €200m (£177m,6m, $239.7m).

"I will not say how much we offered, but they asked for €200m" the president added. "We weren't going to give €200m or €150m - we decided to step away from such an expensive market, our offer was less than €100m, with add-ons it could have reached €120m."

Barcelona did however agree to break the bank to secure the services of Dembele from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth €105m (£93.2m, $125m) plus €40m in add-ons.

The France starlet will be unable to justify that price tag until next year after suffering a serious muscle injury at the weekend which is expected to keep him sidelined for up to four months. Bartomeu is optimistic that Dembele could become like a Christmas present for Barcelona fans ahead of the second part of the season.

"He could return in January, I hope so because that would represent a nice present for all Barcelona fans on Three Kings," the Barcelona president said.

"He will be back and he will show us all what we have already seen. I have spoken with him, he's affected, but that's normal. He told me he knows everything will be OK, though, and that he's in good hands. By Wednesday or Thursday he will be back in Barcelona."