Barcelona transfer news: Sandro Ramirez is free to go after Tottenham rumours in January

Barcelona technical director Robert Fernandez has confirmed that Sandro Ramirez is ready to leave the Nou Camp during the summer transfer window. The club chief said that last year the Canary Island forward received some offers to leave the La Liga giants amid reports linking him with Tottenham and Newcastle, but the player agreed to stay because the club transfer embargo meant they were unable to replace him.

The 20-year-old forward progressed through the Barcelona youth ranks as a promising talent until Luis Enrique rewarded him with his first-team debut in a La Liga game with Villarreal in 2014, with the Canarian repaying the confidence of the manager by scoring the winner 12 minutes later. However, the academy starlet has since failed to establish himself along the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez.

He was expected to step up during the current campaign to fill the gap left by the departure of Pedro to Chelsea during the summer transfer window, serving as the back-up for the MSN trident. However, he has only made 20 appearances for Barcelona this term, most of them as a sub, after having felt behind Munir in the manager's pecking order before suffering a long-term injury in March.

The Mirror reported during the January transfer window that Mauricio Pochettino tried to lure him to Tottenham to back up Harry Kane, while The Guardian later claimed that Newcastle were also interested in securing his services.

Robert Fernandez revealed that Barcelona and the player agreed to continue until the end of the season as they couldn't sign any player due to the Fifa embargo. In January they also failed to lure Celta Vigo star Nolito back to the Nou Camp.

The situation, however, is likely to be completely different in the coming market as Barcelona are expected to sign a new forward to back-up the MSN, with the likes of Hatem Ben Arfa, Sevilla's striker Kevin Gameiro among the reported candidates.

The Barcelona technical director revealed that the club have decided not to take an option to renew the contract of Sandro and let him go.

"Sandro last summer already had some offers to leave the club. We then valued the situation but we couldn't sign any player (to replace him due to the transfer embargo)," Robert Fernandez told the Barcelona club website. "He made a great effort to stay and we appreciated that. We are very grateful to the player. There was a deadline date on 1 May to extend his contract for one more year but due to his excellent behaviour, after what he did last summer, we have decided to open him the door to leave the club."

Sandro is therefore expected to become the first player to leave the club although the likes of Marc Bartra, Adriano or Thomas Vermaelen also face an uncertain future at the Nou Camp. Now it remains to be seen whether the likes of Tottenham and Newcastle make a new attempt to lure the Canarian to the English football.