Barcelona boss coy on Andres Iniesta future and tells Coutinho and Dembele to prove themselves

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde has been coy about the possibility of losing Andres Iniesta following recent reports claiming that the club captain is considering an offer to move to the Chinese Super League.

The 33-year-old midfielder appeared to commit his long-term future to the Nou Camp in October by putting pen to paper on a lifetime contract at Barcelona.

However, Sport reported on it Friday's front cover (16 February) that the captain is considering leaving the La Liga giants in the summer, having received a tempting offer from Tianjin Quanjian which could be worth up to €35m (£31m, $43.8m) per season – the equivalent to £596,000-a-week.

Valverde already lost Javier Mascherano to the Chinese Super League during the recent January transfer window after the Argentina international decided to move to Hebei China Fortune FC in order to secure more regular time and increase his chances of playing in the World Cup.

But Valverde insists Iniesta currently belongs to Barcelona and he is not even thinking about the prospect of seeing him following the same path as Mascherano.

"If he received an offer I would think about it but at the moment I cannot say anything because I have not even thought about it. I can not comment on every news reported in the newspapers," Valverde said in the press conference ahead of the La Liga clash with Eibar on Saturday [17 February].

"Andres is with us, he is going to train with us and what we want is for him to be with us, helping the team, scoring goals, providing assist."

"At the moment it has only happened with Mascherano and I'm not going to go crazy with this things before they happen. Javier's thing has happened but there is no time to worry about these things now, when we're in February with so many things to play for."

Barcelona signed Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool during the recent January transfer window in a club record deal worth £142m [BBC] amid suggestions that the La Liga giants see the Brazilian as the long-term replacement for the Spanish maestro.

The arrival of the Brazilian came months after they also broke the bank to sign Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund to fill the gap left by the departure of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain.

However, the two big money signings have since failed to make the impact expected at the Nou Camp.

Coutinho scored one decisive goal during the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final against Valencia but he is still adapting to the Spanish style.

Meanwhile, Dembele has only been able to make eight appearances having been hit by different injury problems since the beginning of the campaign.

But Valverde still hopes for the two players to step up and prove their worth during title run-in with Barcelona still in the battle for La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.

Pressed whether it is now time for them to make the difference or if it would be a mistake to put too much pressure on them, Valverde said: "It's always the moment for good players to prove themselves on the pitch. We are in the decisive phase of the season and, of course, if they can step up we're not going to stop them.

"The circumstances are what they are. Dembele has just recovered from two injuries, Coutinho has just arrived but we want them to help us because they are necessary, without them the team has been fine but we want to keep the same run [in the second half of the season]."