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Barcelona leave Daniel Agger and David Luiz off defensive shortlist
NEW Barcelona boss Gerardo Martino has confirmed that strengthening Barcelona's defence is a priority, but Daniel Agger and David Luiz are not among his targets.
It was thought that Barcelona could move for Agger or Luiz having missed out on PSG's Thiago Silva and Roma's Marqinhos, who joined Silva at PSG.
But Martino has different ideas, and reports from Spain suggest that neither Agger nor Luiz's name came up in discussions between the Argentinian and Barca technical director Andoni Zubizarreta.
Instead, Martino's three-man shortlist is made up of Julio Dos Santos, Walter Samuel and Santiago Vergini.
All three represent significantly cheaper options than either Agger or Luiz, with Dos Santos and Vergini both playing in South America, and Samuel, currently with Inter Milan, now 35-years-old.
Samuel is perhaps the most surprising name on the list, as Barcelona look to bring in cover for the increasingly injury-prone Carles Puyol, who is also 35.
Dos Santos is currently plying his trade in his native Paraguay, having failed to make the grade at Bayern Munich earlier in his career.
The 30-year-old Paraguayan international is better known as a midfielder, but Martino appears to have identified him as an option at the heart of Barcelona's defence, just as Javier Mascherano was converted into a defender following his move from Liverpool.
Vergini is the youngest player on Martino's shortlist at 24, but also the most familiar with the manager's style having played under him at Newell's Old Boys since 2011.
Vergini has only won one cap for Argentina but would be a longer term option for Barca than either Samuel or Dos Santos.