FC Barcelona presidential candidate Josep Maria Bartomeu denied reports that the football club will sign Paul Pogba from Serie A's Juventus this transfer window.

"We will not buy Pogba this year," reiterated Bartomeu, as rumors of the transfer spread throughout the media. Tom Adams of Eurosport reported Bartomeu saying, "We are not planning with him for next season. He is not part of our sporting plans for 2015-16 at this stage."

Bartomeu's statement followed the Juve's rejection of Blaugrana's €80 million ($88.25 million) offer for Pogba, Juve director Giuseppe Marotta told Gazette Dello Sport, and translated to English by Football-Italia.

Bartomeu previously suggested Pogba was targeted by UEFA champs Barça, but he has had a massively change of tone since then. "It is true that Pogba is a leading target of ours and obviously we are interested, but I can't say anything more," Bartomeu said, as quoted by ESPN.

Pogba's appearance in Camp Nou could depend on whether Bartomeu regains his presidency on the July 18 FCB presidential elections. His rival is Joan Laporta, FCB's former president who hold the opinion that Pogba fits the football club. "Pogba would be one of the best addition," it read on AS.com's annotated English transcript of Laporta's June 24 interview with Catalunya Radio.

Laporta was reportedly against the club's move to hold a meeting with Juve officials. He thinks the failure to sign the French star did not do Barcelona well. "Braida's meeting with Juventus and director Albert Soler was a failure, it was ridiculous and made Barcelona look bad," he said in a Cadena SER interview reported by Goal.com.

The Italian director Marotta believes Pogba will still be in Turin this coming season, he told Sky Sports Italia. "Pogba? Many words have been said, but Juventus don't let their most important players go. He's a player who will be part of the group of next season."

Juve club president Andrea Agnelli, on the other hand, remained open when asked about Pogba's reported departure from the Italians: "Nothing is 100 percent in football, players are not for sale starting from September 1." Agnelli recounted Christian Vieri's sale to Atletico Madrid more than two decades ago in 1997.

"This situation is likely to drag on. It's fair to suggest Bartomeu and Laporta are using Pogba's name to jostle ahead of the club's elections," Bleacher Report analyst Nick Ackerman opined. He mentioned Juve's interest in David Beckham in 2003, swiftly switching to Ronaldinho after the Englishman joined Real Madrid.