Barcelona midfielder Carles Alena will join Real Betis on a loan deal until the end of the season, say El Mundo Deportivo.
It had been thought that the Spaniard would join Getafe in a similar arrangement, following a report in Diario AS last week.
It comes in the aftermath of Getafe president Angel Torres confirming the club’s intent to land the player on Onda Cero earlier this week, when he claimed that whilst they have not yet spoken to Alena directly, they have approached the Blaugrana.
A recent report in Cadena Cope stated that the midfielder is open to the move to the club who are competing in the Europa League this season, although he has not yet spoken to boss Jose Bordalas.
It was recently claimed in Marca that the Spaniard was ‘the dream’ January signing of Los Azulones, who will be competing against multiple clubs for the signature.
Tottenham are said to be monitoring the possibility of making a move while Italian giants Milan have previously been linked.
The 21-year-old La Masia youth graduate made 27 first-team appearances for the club last season after being promoted from their B team.
However, the central midfielder has been frozen out of action for Ernesto Valverde’s team this summer and had not featured since the opening day of the season – a 1-0 loss at Athletic Club Bilbao.
This week has seen Alena more heavily involved – he came off the bench at Real Mallorca before playing the full game at Inter.
Alena played the first half of that match before being substituted off but has struggled to feature since, with the club well stocked with central midfielders.
Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets, Arturo Vidal and Artur Melo are the first-choice central midfielders at the club, with Ivan Rakitic also not featuring this season with academy product Riqui Puig also said to be favoured among the Blaugrana staff.
