FC Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has blocked the potential returns of two former teammates to the club thanks to their past indiscipline, according to El Nacional.

Xavi once shared a locker room with both Neymar and Alex Grimaldo, who are, in varying degrees, available to be signed this summer.

Neymar famously left Barca in 2017 when Paris Saint Germain activated his release clause and paid a never-since-broken world record fee of €222 million ($242 million) for his services.

Almost six years later, the Qatari-backed giants are open to letting the Brazilian go out on loan according to Carrusel Deportivo and also willing to add a purchase option in the temporary deal.

As for Grimaldo, he could have featured more prominently alongside Xavi as Neymar did winning the treble in 2015 for example, yet managed to irk then-manager Luis Enrique with his rebellious character and delusions of grandeur when training with the first team.

Never advancing beyond the reserves, the Spaniard was sold to Benfica for €2 million ($2.2 million) in 2016.

Fast forward to 2023, and the 27-year-old becomes a free agent on June 30. According to separate reports from El Nacional on Neymar and Grimaldo, though, Barca will sign neither man.

The Catalan digital newspaper reports that aside from the operation being financially impossible, Xavi forbids Neymar from coming to Barca as he "would not be accepted by the dressing room under any circumstances".

Despite Xavi perhaps needing reinforcements at left back, Grimaldo can also forget about donning Blaugrana again at senior level because of his history of indiscipline which saw him being punished for not taking training seriously and making "bad taste jokes about money" at Barca.

Xavi will instead look to Alejandro Balde as his main left back with Marcos Alonso providing extra cover whether veteran Jordi Alba moves on or not.

As for the front line or in a deeper creative role where Neymar operates, Barca still harbor hopes of landing his PSG teammate Lionel Messi.

This week, however, Messi and Alba were reported by El Chringuito as having accepted an offer to join Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia with soon-to-be ex-Barca skipper Sergio Busquets.