Manchester United have reportedly told Barca that they are keen concluding a deal to sign De Jong by this week. The United chief Richard Arnold and football director John Murtough both were spotted in Catalonia on Monday. It is understood that they have held talks with Barcelona to sign the Dutch playmaker. Following the exits of Pogba, Matic, Lingard, and Mata, ten Hag is keen to boost his midfield options this transfer window and has identified De Jong as his primary target.
Man U have reportedly reached a “broad agreement” with the Catalan giants to sign de Jong for €65m (£56.2m) plus add-ons. Barcelona owes an excess of £13.7m to the Dutchman in wages, and this is holding up his potential switch. United looks keen to finalize the transfer quickly. They asked Barca to conclude the deal by this Friday.
Manchester United list possible alternatives for de Jong
In case the Red Devils fail to sign the Dutchman, they have drawn up a shortlist of midfield alternatives, that includes Wolves’ Neves and Leicester City’s Tielemans. Wolves value Neves in the region of £50m. Tielemans could cost Old Trafford between £30m and £35m as he has just 12 months remaining on his contract. Talks are said to be going on between Tielemans and Arsenal as well, so Man U can face competition from them. Man U will look to bolster their creativity where they lacked last season with the likes of Eriksen and de Jong. They’ll also hope they have their star man CR7 up front to score the goals for the club.
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