Barcelona coach Luis Enrique has refused to confirm or deny persistent local media speculation that he is at odds with the Blaugrana board over their plans for the looming transfer window.
Luis Enrique has suggested regularly through recent months that he would be open to bringing in new faces in January, alongside soon-to-be-available summer signings Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal, and has long been thought to be hopeful of being reunited with his former Barca B and Celta Vigo charge Nolito.
However other reports in the Catalan press have claimed that Barca do not have the money to match Nolito's €19 million release clause, with Mundo Deportivo saying on Tuesday that the board's idea was a cheaper, older short-term option such as perhaps Miroslav Klose, Luca Toni or Diego Forlan.
#INSERT type:image caption:Luis Enrique is rumoured to be hopeful of bringing Nolito to Barcelona. END#
In Germany ahead of Wednesday's Champions League Group E game at Bayer Leverkusen, the coach was asked about this issue at his pre-game conference, and responded that he was going to stick to his usual policy of not sharing internal club discussions.
"You will have to excuse me," Luis Enrique said. "I have a rule that I do not make public my conversations with the club staff. It is not my style and would not be logical."
Pressed as to whether his decision to make no substitutions in Saturday's 1-1 La Liga draw at Valencia was a message to club president Josep Maria Bartomeu that his squad was not deep enough, Luis Enrique said no.
"If I have to give a message, I speak with el presi," he said. "At Valencia I understood that there was no option to improve on what I was seeing. I liked what I was seeing. I saw the game under control. To make changes just to make changes is nonsensical."
Defending champions Barca have already ensured they will be seeded in the last 16 of this year's competition, having secured first place in the group by tonking Roma 6-1 at the Camp Nou in their previous game.
With the team soon jetting off to Japan for this year's Club World Cup, regulars Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique have been excused this trip. The Blaugrana attacking trident of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez have all travelled however, while Barca B youngsters Gerard Gumbau, Juan Camara and Wilfrid Kaptoum are also included in the match squad.
"I have to take into account all the situations," Luis Enrique said. "There are players who I have rested, some have stayed [in Barcelona]. We can take some players from the youth side, and from there play with what we have. I take into account the games they have played, the minutes, whether they have been injured, or if they have made transatlantic voyages."
This may or may not mean a start for Messi, who scored five times against Leverkusen back in 2012 -- still the record number of goals in one game in the competition, albeit matched by Shakhtar Donetsk's Luiz Adriano at BATE Borisov in October 2014.
"Messi is capable of beating any record," Luis Enrique said. "We should not be surprised by him. We look to give him as many minutes as possible, but that will be decided by his condition and how the game goes."