Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has refused to comment on speculation linking Spanish forward Ferran Torres with a move to Barcelona in the January transfer window.
Barcelona vice president Rafael Yuste claimed earlier this week the Spanish giants had entered negotiations with the player and his representatives over a mid-season switch to the Nou Camp.
When quizzed on Yuste’s comments on the persistent rumours surrounding the future of Torres, Guardiola told reporters: “It’s not my business.
“You have to call [City Director of Football] Txiki [Begiristain] for that, or the agent for Ferran Torres, or Barcelona. I’m not the guy to talk about that.”
While not naming Torres directly, Guardiola went on to discuss the matter of players transfers at the Etihad and the club’s policy on players seeking a move elsewhere.
“Always after five, six seasons together and you move and bring in new players to the locker room with the desire and the passion to win and to continue to do it, then other ones want to leave,” Guardiola continued.
“Always I say to the players, especially after four seasons here, ‘please don’t stay if you don’t want to be here’.
“Do it for yourself, but for me and for the club there is no sense. Life is too short to be here for one contract, to hold you and make you stay where you don’t want to be.
“At the same time, we are not going to give [away] presents. When we go to the market, just for Man City, we have to pay more all the time just because we have this environment.
“Of course we are not going to give the player for free and we have to make negotiations.”
The 21-year-old Torres joined the Citizens from Valencia for a reported transfer fee of £20.8 million in August last year and has gone on to make 43 appearances in all competitions, scoring 16 goals in the process.