Suarez has extra motivation, says Barca boss Enrique

“He has proven his qualities with good performances both for the club and the (Spanish) national team”, he said.

As Barcelona prepare to face AS Roma in an global friendly, Luis Enrique will be hoping to end the pre-season on better note.

Sport later reported that the Premier League giants have submitted an official bid of £19m ($29.6m) to secure the deal and that, despite Barcelona holding out for £21m, the final deal could be closed in the middle of those figures plus a fee on add-ons.

Pedro has spent his whole career with Barcelona, amassing 204 league appearances for the side and scoring 58 goals.

“As his coach I want him to stay”.

With top target Robert Lewandowski proving unattainable at Bayern Munich, Van Gaal is confident that Rooney, Depay and Pedro, supported by Adnan Januzaj and teenager James Wilson, can prove a prolific forward unit, with Javier Hernandez also in contention should United fail to find a buyer for the Mexican this month.

However, the Barca coach said: “I don’t like looking at ‘what ifs, ‘ especially when they’re on a negative note”.

Pedro’s own mother has already confirmed that her son will be moving to England and last week the player was filmed saying his goodbyes to fans outside Barca’s training ground.

“It was a year of big changes – owners, players, coach….we wanted to introduce new things and we found players who were very prepared for that and a club which was right behind us”. I want it to look like the team in the Supercup but all the players have been doing build-up work so no players arrived back starting from zero. We’re excited about the Gamper, the Super Cup and the start of the season. “There are other players who, without being captains, have a voice inside the dressing room”.