Barcelona general manager Pep Segura has claimed that the club are "close" to signing Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund.

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"We are close to Coutinho and Dembele, we are discussing their conditions but we do not know when they will be sealed," goal.com quoted Segura as saying after Barcelona?s 0-2 defeat to Real Madrid in the second-leg of the Spanish Super Cup gave their arch rivals a 5-1 aggregate victory.

"We hope they will be Barcelona players this season,? he added.

Barcelona have identified Coutinho and Dembele as their key targets to fill Neymar's world-record ?222 million move to Paris Saint-Germain.

Liverpool have rejected two bids from Barcelona for 25-year-old Coutinho so far ? the last of which totalled ?100 million.

20-year-old Dembele is currently suspended by Dortmund on the back of the Bundesliga outfit rejecting a bid from Barcelona for his services.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)