Guardiola cools talk of Robinho swoop

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola insisted on Sunday that Manchester City’s Brazilian winger Robinho was not on the European champions’ shopping list.

There had been reports in Spain that treble winners Barcelona were preparing a 40-million-euro move for Robinho, but Guardiola said that it was highly unlikely that either the Brazilian or any other player would be recruited for the new season.

“He (Robinho) will not come. He was Manchester City’s star signing last season and it would not make sense for them to part with him now,” Guardiola was quoted by Spanish news agency EFE.

“It would take something extraordinary for someone else to come in. I have a lot of faith in the young players coming through and prefer to work with them.”

Barcelona have made just three signings this summer with Ukraine international defender Dmytro Chgrynskiy set to join Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Maxwell at Camp Nou.

Shakthar Donetsk have agreed to let Chgrynskiy, 22, join for a reported 25 million euros and the club website confirmed the defender would officially be unveiled on Monday.

Barcelona begin their league defence on Monday when they host Sporting Gijon at Camp Nou.