Manchester City have reached an agreement to sell out-of-favour forward Ferran Torres to Barcelona.

Barca is said to have agreed to pay 55 million euros (£46.7 million) for the 21-year-old forward, with an additional 10 million euros (£8.5 million) in add-ons.

Despite their current financial difficulties, the Spanish club is able to fund the transfer thanks to a recent bank loan.

They won't be able to add Torres to their team until they sell certain players to comply with La Liga's financial fair play rules.

Torres, a Spain international who joined City from Valencia in August 2020 and has made 43 appearances and scored 16 goals, has also agreed to the deal.

He started City's first six games of the season, but was benched for the goalless draw with Southampton in September, and has not played since suffering a foot injury while on international duty with Spain the following month.

Barcelona has assured Torres that he will be the team's top player, which he values highly, and they are willing to match City's valuation of the player. Along with Barcelona prodigy Ansu Fati, the Catalan side believes he will become one of Spain's top players in the next decade.

They are short on forward players after failing to retain Argentine superstar Lionel Messi due to financial difficulties, allowing Antoine Griezmann to rejoin Atletico Madrid over the summer. Sergio Aguero, a former City striker, joined Barca but was forced to retire from sport earlier this month at the age of 33 due to a heart problem.

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The organisers of the Australian Open are still unsure whether defending men's champion Novak Djokovic would compete in the Grand Slam next month.

34-year-old Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, has been silent on his immunisation status.

The Australian Open requires all players and staff to be vaccinated or have a medical exemption authorised by an impartial panel of experts.

"If Novak turns up," tournament director Craig Tiley said, "he'll be vaccinated or have a medical exemption."

Despite testing positive for Covid-19 this week, Tiley is certain that Rafael Nadal of Spain will compete.

Djokovic, who would be aiming for a record 21st men's Grand Slam victory and a 10th Australian Open title, is not on the list of competitors.

He's also been nominated to the Serbian team for the ATP Cup, which begins on January 1 in Sydney.

Applications for exemptions would be assessed first by an impartial panel of doctors from the fields of immunology, infectious disease, and general practice, according to Tennis Australia.

Applications that fulfill the national parameters established by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) will be subjected to a second evaluation by the Independent Medical Exemption Review Group, a government-appointed panel of medical specialists.

The Australian Open begins on January 17 in Melbourne, with players arriving in the country for warm-up events throughout the next week.

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