Chelsea have received a £35m bid from Barcelona for their Brazil defender David Luiz, according to the BBC. The 26-year-old, who joined from Benfica for around £21m in January 2011, has been a long-term target for the Catalan club.

Chelsea have insisted throughout that David Luiz, who has played more than 100 games for the club, is not for sale. The bid is thought to be cash only and does not involve any Barça players in part exchange.

Barcelona, now managed by the Argentinian coach Gerardo Martino, have made signing a centre-back a priority.

Their 35-year-old Carles Puyol suffered knee problems last season and the player had surgery in March, while Gerard Piqué, Adriano Correia and Javier Mascherano were either injured or suspended at certain points in the campaign.

David Luiz played 30 minutes of Chelsea's friendly against Internazionale last Thursday but he has been withdrawn from José Mourinho's squad for the Chelsea manager's match against former club Real Madrid in Miami.

Mourinho has always stressed David Luiz remains part of his plans, and expects the Brazilian to feature in the final warm-up match against Roma in Washington, if he recovers from a hamstring problem.

Adding on the club's official website, the Portuguese coach said: "We won't risk David Luiz [against Madrid], but Roma is the last match of pre-season before the season starts, so I think he needs to play against Roma, but if he's not able to he's not able to."