Zubizarreta denies Alves' transfer rumours

Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta has confirmed that the Catalan club have not asked their Brazilian right-back Dani Alves to leave.

The 31-year-old’s future at Camp Nou has been under constant speculation over the last few months, with his current contract with the club ending in summer 2015.

But Zubizarreta has denied all rumours and insists that the Blaugranas have not received any transfer requests for their defender.

“Alves is under contract and we've never asked him to leave”, he was quoted as saying by Spanish daily Marca.

“We don't have any indications from his agent to suggest that anything is going to happen and we haven't received any offers for him.

"But this is football and things can change”, he added.

The reports of Alves’ potential transfer had piqued the interest of Premier League giants Liverpool and French club Paris Saint-Germain.  Serie A side Inter Milan were also rumoured to be lining up to sway the former Sevilla player to San Siro.

Barcelona have already lost centre-back Carles Puyol, who retired this year, and signed Thomas Vermaelen from Arsenal to strengthen their defence and will be hoping to better their last season’s second place finish when they take on Elche on 24th August in their first La Liga game.