Atletico Madrid are attempting to nab a deal for Jose Manuel Jurado after tabling a bid of five million euros for the Schalke midfielder.
The capital outfit are desperate to land a new attacking midfielder as loanee Diego is due to return to parent club Wolfsburg on July 1 and there is no sign of a permanent deal being agreed upon.
However, AS has claimed that Atletico will not pursue negotiations with the German side and instead have looked closer to home for an alternative in the form of ex-player Jurado.
The 25-year-old originally left the Vicente Calderon in 2010 to join Schalke for 13m euros and enjoyed a productive debut campaign, as he helped them into the semi-finals of the Champions League.
However, his season has been disappointing, having failed to score in just 18 Bundesliga appearances, and he is being tipped to be off-loaded by Schalke in the transfer window.
Jurado, who is under contract with Schalke until 2014, has already ruled out a move to the Chinese Super League or to Greek champions Olympiakos, paving the way for a possible return to Atleti.
It is also believed that he would be willing to take a considerable pay cut in order to rejoin the club he represented between 2006 and 2010.
