Barcelona out of favour Cristian Tello 'set to make new loan move' to Fiorentina

Barcelona have agreed to send Cristian Tello back on loan to Fiorentina for the 2016-2017 campaign after the winger was deemed surplus of Luis Enrique's requirement, according to AS. The Spaniard has been linked with the likes of Southampton and Liverpool during the current transfer window but he has opted to move instead to the Serie A side, after he already enjoyed his time with the Viola during the second part of last season.

Tello would become the ninth player to leave the Nou Camp during the current transfer window, following in the footsteps of Thomas Vermaelen, Dani Alves, Martin Montoya, Alex Song, Sandro Ramirez, Marc Bartra, Adriano and Alen Halilovic.

The former Spanish international forward was promoted by Pep Guardiola to the first team during the current Manchester City boss successful tenure at the Nou Camp. The pacy winger made a great impact during his first campaign with the senior team but his development was hampered following the arrival of Neymar from Santos in the summer of 2013.

In the summer of 2014 the player agreed a two seasons loan move to Porto to reunite with his former U21 national coach Julen Lopetegui. The winger scored 11 goals and provided 12 assists in 62 appearances for the Portuguese giants but in January 2016, following the dismissal of Lopetegui, he decided to break the agreement and spend the second part of the campaign at Fiorentina.

He returned to Barcelona earlier in the summer but was informed that he was not in the plans of Luis Enrique for the new campaign.

Earlier in June Marca reported that Fiorentina, Liverpool and another unnamed Premier League club were closely monitoring the situation ahead of making a move to secure his services, with the Reds having been linked with the Spaniard during Brendan Rodgers' spell.

The Sun later claimed that Southampton had joined the race and were planning a £10m ($13m) offer to lure him to the Premier League. However, the interest from the English clubs has since cooled down and AS claims that the winger has opted instead to return to Fiorentina.

The report claims that Barcelona, Fiorentina and Tello have already agreed a deal for the player to spend the 2016-2017 campaign on loan at the Serie A, with the Italians keeping an option to secure his services on permanent basis at the end of the season for around €8m.

Tello has already previously expressed his intentions to return to Fiorentina so the move is expected to be official in the coming hours.