Barcelona's Eric Abidal appeared to confirm the club are no longer in the race to sign Matthijs de Ligt on Instagram - but the director of football may have been hacked.
The Catalan club were favourites to land the Holland international and even agreed terms with Ajax, who are open to selling.
Barcelona then offered the 19-year-old a contract, and were hoping he would sign it after the Nations League final between Holland and Portugal.
But De Ligt stalled on doing so, announcing on TV Univision: "I will go on vacation now. I am going to think about what's best for me and then I will decide. I think it's important for a young player to play, that's the only thing I know."
Juventus, Manchester United and Bayern Munich have all since offered De Ligt contracts - each worth more than the one presented by Barcelona.
Barcelona now feel that they have missed out on the 19-year-old as if he truly wanted to sign for the Catalan giants he would have done so already.
The Spanish club are refusing to up their offer for the centre-back, with the current deal presented to him mirroring the one handed to his former Ajax team-mate Frenkie de Jong.
Meanwhile reports in Spain suggested the club are 'angry' with the way in which the saga has dragged on. And now a post on Abidal's official Instragram account has caused a stir.
The post features a quote from legendary Ajax and Barcelona star Johan Cruyff, which, translated from Spanish, reads: "He who hesitates to play for Barca no longer serves us."
It appears to reference the transfer saga, but was followed by a second post reading: "You have been hacked" - suggesting it wasn't uploaded by Abidal.
