Rumour: Montoya LFC-bound?

With Jose Enrique out until February and Ally Cissokho failing to impress since his loan arrival from Valencia, a left back became a top priority for Liverpool.

Many names have been linked including Ryan Bertrand and Ben Davies but it is the Spanish u-21 international Martin Montoya that has jumped ahead of the queue.

Montoya only has 6 months left on his Barcelona deal and could leave on a free transfer in the summer but Liverpool are believed to want a new year deal.

Montoya can play as either a right back or left back (he is more comfortable on the right) and is eager to earn a place in the Spanish World Cup squad, but to do this he needs game time and Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers can guarantee this.

Liverpools managing director Ian Ayre flew to Barcelona to open transfer talks and to see what kind of fee Barcelona would be looking for.

The two clubs have a good relationship after only dealing with one another over the summer move of Luis Alberto and also spoke about a possible move for Pepe Reina to move back to the Catalan club before he went on loan to Napoli.However any deal for Montoya is not a forgone conclusion with other clubs believed to hold an interest, Liverpool however hope that there early move and a guarantee of first team football could sway his decision.Any move for Montoya could spell the end of Glen Johnsons time at Anfield as he nears the end of his lucrative contract it is believed that Liverpool are willing to let the defender move on in the summer unless he lowers his wage demands dramatically.