Lucas Lima denies Barcelona offer as Santos contract decision looms

Lucas Lima insists that he has not received any offer from Barcelona and claims that long-term suitors Crystal Palace are among the clubs to have submitted proposals as he mulls over his future at Santos.

It was claimed last week that the Brazilian playmaker had agreed terms to move to the Nou Camp as a free agent in January and subsequent reports suggested that he confirmed that decision in front of 50 people at a poker game that was attended by close friend and current Blaugrana star Neymar.

Fifa rules stipulate that prospective free agents are only permitted to speak to other clubs once they have entered the final six months of their contracts, meaning that Lima, whose deal expires on 31 December, would not be able to enter negotiations with potential new employers until 1 July.

Rumours of a pre-contract agreement were said to have angered Santos, whose relationship with Barcelona has been strained in recent years, but a Fifa spokesman recently confirmed to ESPN that no complaint had been made.

Speaking to Globo Esporte about those links, Lima once again insisted that he had not held talks with the Catalans.

"I haven't received any offer from Barcelona," he said, as per Marca. "Even if [a move to Barcelona] were true, I wouldn't say so [at the poker game]. What I told Neymar about Barcelona was more to do with curiosity than with any actual offers."

Santos have offered Lima fresh terms in a proposal that the 14-cap Selecao international, who has made 92 appearances for the Sao Paulo outfit since joining from Internacional in 2014, described as "very good". The 26-year-old says that president Modesto Roma Junior has made a "great effort" for him to stay and that he will discuss the situation with his family.

Lima, who insists that financial gain is not a priority when it comes to what he describes as his "biggest contract", also has offers from both Crystal Palace and Chinese Super League (CSL) side Hebei China Fortune. However, he does not seem especially enthused about the prospect of joining either of those two clubs.

"When I have made a decision about my future, Santos will be the first to know," he added. "I have had offers from Crystal Palace and Hebei China Fortune, but they weren't the teams I was hoping for. I know that if I play well at Santos I will continue in the national team and be more likely to making the [2018] World Cup squad, which is important for me."

Palace were linked with Lima last summer and again during the January window, with The Mail reporting that then Eagles boss Alan Pardew was hopeful of completing a £7.5m ($9.6m) deal. Such a move never came to fruition, however.