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Defender Martin Montoya wants to leave Barcelona in January - agent

Out-of-favour Barcelona right-back Martin Montoya, who has been linked with Juventus, Arsenal and Liverpool, is set to leave the Camp Nou in January, his agent has said.

Juan de Dios Carrasco met Barca sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta on Thursday for talks, with Montoya apparently upset after being left out of the squad for Wednesday's 3-1 Champions League win over Paris Saint-Germain despite first-choice Dani Alves being suspended.

Carrasco told news agency EFE that Montoya had decided his future lay elsewhere and he wanted to leave in the January transfer window.

"From now, clubs interested have the possibility to make contact with Barcelona and negotiate his transfer," he said.

La Masia graduate Montoya, 23, had been seen as the long-term replacement for Alves, and last season signed a new contract until June 2018.

However, he has made only one appearance in all competitions this season, with coach Luis Enrique preferring to use summer signing Douglas, utility-man Adriano Correa and even centre-half Marc Bartra at right back when Alves was not available.

Speaking to BeInSports, club president Josep Maria Bartomeu said: "Currently, Martin Montoya is a first-team squad player. He is a player who has already shown that when he plays he always performs to the maximum. But the coach decides if he plays or not."

Douglas was also not included in the match squad for the PSG game, and his 5.5 million-euro summer transfer from Sao Paulo was questioned by some pundits after a below-par display in the Copa del Rey win at Huesca.

#INSERT type:image caption:Montoya has made only one Barcelona appearance this season. END#

Bartomeu said the decision to sign the 24-year-old had been taken with an eye on next season, knowing that the club might not be able to sign anyone in the coming summer.

"We signed him at the end of the summer, when FIFA had ratified the punishment of two transfer windows without being able to sign players," he explained.

"It could happen that next year we cannot sign anyone. The sporting directors and the coach considered we lacked a player on the right side of the defence for next year.

"Douglas was not to perform this season. He has come now to settle in and to enter into the dynamic of the team for next season."

Bartomeu also defended the decision to sign Thomas Vermaelen from Arsenal for 15 million euros last summer, even though the Belgium international arrived injured and will not play until the spring.

"All signings are made by the technical team, and Vermaelen was a collective decision," he said. "He has undeniable quality. He is a great player and will help the defence a lot."

The deal that brought Neymar to the Camp Nou last summer, still under investigation by a Spanish court, was no longer seen as a controversial issue, he claimed.

"There were some interested parties who wanted to open debates against Barca," he said. "But Neymar, with his football, has made all that be forgotten."