Barcelona and Manchester City held major swap talks last summer.
Radio Cataluyna says Barca president Joan Laporta proposed a complex four-player swap to City.
Laporta was prepared to set up a deal which would see attacker Ousmane Dembele and defender Ronald Araujo in a swap for Raheem Sterling and Aymeric Laporte.
Ultimately the deal fell through with Sterling reluctant to move to Barca at the time.
However, Sterling's stand has since changed this season, with the England international speaking openly about ambitions of moving abroad.