Barcelona sporting director Robert Fernandez has emphatically ruled out selling the club’s Brazilian forward Neymar, telling the Spanish press that the player is not for sale.

Fernandez, the former Barcelona midfielder who joined the club in an executive capacity in 2015, also played down speculation that the club were entertaining thoughts of signing Juventus striker Paulo Dybala.

Barcelona’s early exit from this season’s Champions League, as well as their erratic league form, has led to much transfer speculation ahead of the opening of the summer window.

Although Neymar has proven to be a huge success since his 2013 transfer from Brazilian side Santos – the 25-year-old has scored 100 goals in 181 appearances for Barça – he has been repeatedly linked with a move to Manchester United.

Spanish newspaper Diario Gol even reported recently that the club were beginning to prepare for life without Neymar, and had identified Dybala and Monaco forward Kylian Mbappé as potential replacements.

However in an interview with the Spanish broadcaster RAC1, Fernandez utterly refuted those suggestions.

Fernandez says there is no chance Barcelona will sell Neymar (Getty)

“He is totally untransferable,” Fernandez commented when asked about the transfer status of the Brazilian forward.

Fernandez also appeared to rule out a summer campaign to sign Dybala.

The 23-year-old Argentinian striker has been in fantastic form ever since moving to Juventus from Palermo in 2015, scoring 39 goals in 84 appearances and bagging a brace in the club’s 3-0 Champions League win against Barcelona in Turin.

So good has Dybala’s recent form been that he has been widely dubbed ‘the next Lionel Messi’. But although he acknowledged Dybala was a fine player, Fernandez claimed the striker would struggle to break into Barcelona’s starting XI.