BARCELONA: FC Barcelona general manager Pep Segura confirmed on Thursday that the club is close to finalising deals for Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele. Segura, talking to Spanish media, said that the club administration understands requirements and is working to fulfill them, adding that club remains hopeful to land both targets. “We have to help the team. We’re close to Coutinho and Dembele, we’re talking about the conditions but until everything is finalised, we can’t say anything else. We hope they will wear a Barca shirt,” He said. In recent weeks, Barca has made two offers to Liverpool for Coutinho worth €100m with both rejected by the club. Coutinho however wants to join the Spanish giants and has already told the English club that he would not play for them again, according to reports in Spain. Barca has also made €100m offer to Dortmund to no avail for Dembele, who remains suspended by the club for disobliging attitude, but the club remains confident to sign both players before the transfer period ends on August 31. Barcelona’s recent defeat against Spanish champions Real Madrid has further exposed their need to invest in their squad and club midfielder Sergio Busquets seconds that the Catalan club needs new signings. “It’s clear signings are needed, We have to strengthen the squad. We need attacking players to compensate for Neymar.” Said Busquets. The Blaugranas have already signed Brazilian midfielder Paulinho from Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande for €40m. Barcelona gets its season under way against Real Betis in La Liga on Sunday.