Set free by his Belkin Pro Cycling Team employer and supposedly given remuneration because of the premature termination of his contract, Luis Leon Sanchez has been linked to a possible move to the Spanish Movistar team. 

According to reports in El Perodico the rider and the team agreed on terms during the recent world championships in Italy. Yesterday another Spanish newspaper El Pais also suggested the rider would be joining the Movistar outfit in 2014 to team up with other big Spanish names, including Alejandro Valverde. 

However, Movistar general manager Eusebio Unzué has denied speculation that the Sanchez switch has already been signed, telling Biciciclismo.com that there has been contact but that the pen has not yet been put to paper. Unzué added that the team currently consists of 24 confirmed riders and that it will draw the line at 25 or 26 in total. 

In the past the 29-year-old Sanchez has won four stages in the Tour de France, and is a multiple national time trial champion. He won the Clasica San Sebastian in 2010 and 2012, and also took the Tour Down Under in 2005 and Paris-Nice in 2009. 

More recently, though, Sanchez was implicated in the Operacion Puerto and Operacion Galgo investigations, although he denies involvement. 

He was suspended earlier this season by his employer, then known as Blanco Pro Cycling, but it was forced to allow him to return after he lodged a complaint with the UCI. 

Subsequently Sanchez went on to take stage five in Belgium and then went on to finish as runner up in the Spanish national time trial championships and third in the road race. In August he won a stage and placed second overall in the Tour de l’Ain.

Yesterday Movistar’s parent company Telefónica committed to three additional years as the title sponsor of the WorldTour team, thus securing its future at a time of widespread economic uncertainty in Spain.