David Luiz pursuit 'impossible' - Alves

Dani Alves has suggested that it will be "almost
impossible" for Barcelona to sign David Luiz
because of Jose Mourinho’s unwillingness to sell
a player to the Catalan club.

Barca continue to be heavily linked with a move
for Brazil centre-back, with Mundo Deportivo
reporting on Monday morning that the blaugrana
outfit, who had a €25 million bid rejected by
Chelsea last week, were set to make a final €35
million offer in the coming days. Mourinho has meanwhile insisted Barca are
"wasting their time" by chasing Luiz, who played
alongside Alves as Brazil won last June’s
Confederations Cup on home soil. The former Sevilla right-back told the Catalan
paper that, even if his international colleague
was keen to move to the Camp Nou, the former
Real Madrid boss was likely to thwart anything
that would make Barca stronger. "I always want the best for my friends and I tell
them to come here if they can," Alves said. "As
well as that, he is a great player. The problem is
not whether he wants to come, but that in the
end you have to get away from Mourinho -- and
that is not going to be easy. The idea of facilitating David Luiz coming to Barca would not
pass through his head, and even less if it is to
strengthen us. It is more than difficult for us,
almost impossible." Should Mourinho succeed and Luiz remain at
Stamford Bridge, Barcelona sporting director
Andoni Zubizarreta and new coach Gerardo
Martino are then likely to move down their list --
with Daniel Agger [Liverpool], Jan Vertonghen
[Tottenham], Jeremy Mathieu [Valencia] and Inigo Martinez [Real Sociedad] all reportedly
options to join a defensive set-up which most
pundits feel needs strengthening. However, after Barcelona’s 3-1 victory over a
Malaysia XI on Saturday in Kuala Lumpur, Gerard
Pique told reporters keen to get his views on the
speculation that the club did not necessarily
need to buy. "That’s the work of the sporting director," Pique
told Barca’s official website. "The players who
are here now are good enough to defend the
team throughout the season." Pique had been named man of the match when
scoring the third goal in the game, which was
played at the Shah Alam Stadium after Barca’s
players reportedly complained about the state of
the pitch at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium,
where it had been due to take place. Cesc Fabregas opened the scoring with a header,
but was then forced off with an ankle injury
which sees him miss Spain’s friendly in Ecuador
on Wednesday. Neymar also got on the
scoresheet, by ghosting past a defender inside
the area and finishing coolly.