Barcelona star Jordi Alba 'rejects' approaches from Manchester United and PSG to stay in La Liga

Jordi Alba has turned down approaches from both Manchester United and Paris Saint Germain this summer in order to continue at Barcelona. Daily Catalan paper Sport said that the two European giants were ready to pay more than €25m (£21.9m, $28.4m) for his services but the Spanish international decided to stay at the Nou Camp following a conversation with club officials.

The 28-year-old left-back has established himself as an untouchable member of the Barcelona line-up since joining the club from Valencia in the summer of 2012. However, his long-term future at the La Liga giants was thought to be in question earlier this year after he fell out of favour and Luis Enrique switched from his usual 4-3-3 formation to a 3-4-3 system.

Alba missed some crucial games such us the historic 6-1 comeback victory over PSG in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and the 3-0 defeat to Juventus in the following semi-final.

The former Valencia left-back himself expressed his frustration about the situation from the Spanish camp on March.

"I have the complete confidence of the [Spanish] boss [Julen Lopetegui] here, which for me is a compliment and fills me with confidence, something I'm not having at Barcelona, which maybe I'd like to have.

"When I was playing, I didn't ask for explanations, and I won't do that now, either. All players want to have continuity, to have minutes. It's true that in recent seasons I've played a greater role, but those are the manager's decisions."

Some reports at the time claimed that Barcelona had even identified a potential replacement in Theo Hernandez before the Atletico Madrid starlet opted instead to move to Real Madrid.

Manchester Evening News then suggested that Jose Mourinho was monitoring the situation ahead of making a move to lure him to Manchester United if Barcelona opted to put him on the market.

Now Sport confirms that Alba was then eventually approached by United and PSG, with both clubs being ready to pay in excess of €25m to lure him away from Barcelona.

The Spanish publications claims that Alba met with the Catalan officials to inform the club about those offers but he decided to turn them down after being given assurances over his long-term role at the Nou Camp.

Sport claims that Alba's priority was always to continue at Barcelona but he might have had to change his plans if he was not going to play regularly with the World Cup coming next summer

Alba, however, managed to turnaround the situation in the last part of the season and is expected to become a key member of new manager Ernesto Valverde's plans in the coming season.