Barcelona's plan to terminate forward's deal thwarted, rivals deny interest

Barcelona could be stuck with striker Luuk de Jong for the rest of the season despite the player having little to no impact since joining the club on loan from Sevilla in the summer. The Dutch forward's parent club are not keen on taking him back midway through his season-long loan deal with the Catalan outfit.

De Jong arrived as Ronald Koeman's fourth signing last summer, as the Dutch manager desperately scoured the market for an attacking player. The 31-year-old made just two starts under the Dutch coach, and contributed one goal. But he has spent the majority of his time at the club watching from the bench.

Koeman has now departed and Xavi Hernandez is overseeing Barcelona's recovery from a difficult start to the La Liga season. De Jong is not considered to be part of the Spanish manager's plans going forward, and the Catalan giants are expected to try and offload the Dutch striker when the winter transfer window opens in January.

However, they could face trouble from Sevilla, after the club's president Pepe Castro revealed that they have no plans to take De Jong back when the transfer window reopens. And Barcelona cannot move the forward to another club without Sevilla's permission.

"At this time we are not contemplating the return of Luuk de Jong," Castro said, as quoted on Barca Blaugranes.

The only hope for Barcelona to end De Jong's loan and send him back to the Andalusian club will be if they decide to replace the injured Youssef En-Nesyri with the Netherlands international. However, Castro confirmed that they will only look for a replacement once they get a full diagnosis as to how long the Moroccan forward will be out.

"Let's see the extent of the injury because there are injuries that it takes time to know how long the recovery will last," he said. "If there is a need to sign we have the best sports director in history. If we have to do something, we will do it."