Barcelona are watching Athletic Bilbao defender Unai Nunez.

Sport says coming from the B team, the 20-year-old has earned the confidence of coach Cuco Ziganda from the first day and featured in every minute of every league game - 720 - showing maturity and reliability.

Barcelona have had good reports on the player for months.

However his rise to the first team means the club are paying more attention now, having made informal first contact. The players' people were thrilled to learn of Barcelona's interest and they agree that the best thing to do now is to let him keep getting experience. At 20 he has huge potential and Barcelona are considering him more of a future option than a present one.