Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola had this to say regarding a possible move for Liverpool's other want-away midfielder Javier Mascherano shortly after capturing Zlatan Ibrahimovic in possibly this transfer window's most bizarre deal (50 million euros + Samuel Eto'o!)

He said: “The market is open but very complicated. All the signings are very expensive and one of the options is that there won’t be any more reinforcements. We are rich but not as much as others. Everyone, for whatever player, is asking for a great deal of money.

“That wise man Sir Alex Ferguson was definitely right when he said that this isn’t a year to sign.”



He added: “What is certain is that we’re not going to bring in someone just for the sake of it.”