Barcelona made an enquiry over Atletico Madrid's Saul but were put off by his price tag.

CEO of Atleti Miguel Angel Gil Marin revealed Barca had enquired about the availability of midfielder Saul during the last transfer window, only to be put off by an increase in his buy-out clause fee.

"Bartomeu called me in the summer to tell me they needed a player of Saul Niguez's characteristics and that they intended to pay his release clause," he said.

"What he didn't know was that, three days beforehand, we had signed a new contract and his clause went up from 80 to €150million."