Cologne have dismissed reports they have agreed a fee with Liverpool for Germany international Jonas Hector.
At the weekend, Liverpool fanzine This Is Anfield reported the Reds and Cologne have agreed a fee for to transfer the left-back and suggested he could move to the Premier League for around £12 million.
But speaking to Bild, Cologne sporting director Jorg Schmadtke dismissed those reports.
"There is no offer from Liverpool. The rumoured fee speaks for itself, it can't be a legitimate thing," Schmadtke said, with the paper adding that Cologne are looking for around £15.7m should they decide to sell Hector.
The 26-year-old Germany international left his hometown Auersmacher for Cologne as a 20-year-old in the summer of 2010.
After two years playing for Cologne's reserves, he was promoted to the first team, at that time playing in Bundesliga II, in 2012. He has since played 122 league matches, 65 of those in the upper tier.
Hector played the No. 10 position for fifth-division side SV Auersmacher as well as Cologne's reserves, and taken the holding midfield role and left-back position for the Bundesliga team. He has also won 14 caps for Germany and become Joachim Low's first-choice left-back.
Hector's ability to find space has been compared with that of Germany international team-mate Thomas Muller.
"It might be similar that I find my bearings in the intermediate spaces. I know where I have to be to have the ball passed to me," Hector recently told 11 Freunde magazine.
"Thomas Muller, as you know, does it very well in the attacking department when he's between the midfield and the defence. I might still have it in my blood as someone who has played the No. 10 position."