Barcelona make target available to have on shirt before he's completed transfer

Barcelona have made Ferran Torres' name available to have printed on shirts bought from their online shop before he has even completed his transfer from Manchester City.

Torres had emerged as a shock target for new Barca boss Xavi over the course of recent weeks as he looks to restore the Catalan giants back to their status of perennial trophy winners.

Goals have been a major problem for Barca this season under both Xavi and his predecessor Ronald Koeman, with their returns in La Liga being distinctly average.

Memphis Depay, Martin Brainthwaite and Luuk de Jong are the current forward options at the Nou Camp, though none of them could be described as having the calibre usually associated with Barca.

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It appears that Torres is the man who Xavi has identified to fix those issues, with Sergio Aguero having been forced to retire.

Torres is only in his second season at the Etihad Stadium, having signed from Valencia ahead of last term.

He scored 13 goals in 36 games in all competitions in his first campaign in Manchester and appeared to have emerged as Pep Guardiola's first-choice striker this season.

But after starting the first four Premier League games this term, Torres found himself dropped to the bench before suffering a fractured foot.

And due to that injury, it appears that his goalscoring performance against Wycombe Wanderers in the third round of the Carabao Cup will be his last in a City shirt.

Guardiola has a policy of allowing players who want to leave to move on, a situation that has emerged with Torres amid Barca's interest.

It has been widely reported that the two clubs have come to an agreement on a fee for the deal taking Torres back to Spain.

Barca are set to pay an initial £47.5million when the transfer window opens on Saturday, with the deal containing an additional £8m in performance-related bonuses.

Though the deal is all but done, it has still not been officially confirmed by either club, who are likely waiting for the window to open.

Despite that, Barcelona appear to have jumped the gun on any announcement by making Torres' name available to be printed.

When buying a shirt on the club's online shop, customers are able to have a player's name and number printed on the back.

And for a shirt time on Monday, supporters noticed that they could have Torres' name printed, though he had not been assigned a number.

It would have cost around £12 for a customer to have Torres' name on their shirt, though his name was quickly removed from the site.

But an announcement would appear to be close, with Guardiola recently giving his blessing for Torres to move on.

"The career is short, one day it's over. If he wants to leave, absolutely no disappointment. It's his desire, I'm happy for him," the City boss said last week.

"Always I have the feeling that when Barcelona or Real Madrid knock on the door of players then it is difficult to say no. So difficult.

"They are still the strongest teams in the world in terms of fashion, cities and many reasons. He is from Spain, Barcelona knock and I understand why he wants to leave."