Marquinhos
Marquinhos Reuters

Barcelona have suffered a blow in their pursuit of Paris Saint-Germain defender Marquinhos after the French champions rejected the Catalans' latest €40m offer for the Brazilian.

The 20-year-old - who signed from Roma for around £25m last summer and is under contract at PSG until 2018 - is aware that David Luiz's arrival at Parc des Princes is likely to limit his first team appearances next season, even though he played 29 games in all competitions for the French side last term.

Barca are looking to strengthen their defence following the departure of veteran captain Carles Puyol, and Catalan newspaper Sport recently claimed that the agreement between Marquinhos and Barca was almost complete, only missing an answer from PSG.

There was speculation the Catalan giants would be willing to offer right-back Dani Alves as part of a deal to sign Marquinhos, plus money. However Blanc made it clear that the Parisian club had no intention of letting him leave PSG and has ruled out any possibility of the centre-back moving to Spain.

Blanc said: "Marquinhos will stay - that is for sure. What interests me is to keep the same number [of players]. Certainly there will be departures." The manager also ruled out a move for Alves as they are not willing to pay his high release clause.

According to Sport, the French club have rejected Barca's latest €40m offer for the player. However Blanc has not held talks with the player yet – a fact that surprised the Brazilian who, at least, was confident that Blanc would call him to tell him personally that he remains part of the manager's plans.

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