Manchester United and Barcelona are now in direct contact for the transfer of Frenkie de Jong. Moreover, United have made their offer for the midfielder as well. De Jong is desperately wanted by Erik ten Hag since the manager has formerly coached the player and knows his potential. Though Barcelona considered De Jong unsalable, they are now open to selling their asset. The club’s financial situation has gone from bad to worse and taken a toll on their transfer activities. As a result, Barcelona will now have to make sales in order to stabilize its economic condition.
United have set in motion their plan to rebuild the club under Erik ten Hag. The Red Devils started off by clearing their fringe players, releasing as many as 5 first-team players. Those included midfielders Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata, and Jesse Lingard. Ten Hag now wants new reinforcements in the midfield with De Jong his number one priority. Further on, United are also fully backing their new boss in the transfer market and are rigorously pursuing Frenkie de Jong. A reunion is now on the cards for Ten Hag as United have tabled their first offer for the former Ajax midfielder.
United fall short of Barca’s asking price for Frenkie de Jong
Manchester United upped their efforts of acquiring Frenkie de Jong after Barca made him available for a transfer. The Premier League side wants to wrap up a deal as soon as possible. However, the midfielder was understood to be not interested in a move. De Jong himself had made it clear that he wanted to stay at his ‘dream’ club Barcelona. But the situation has changed it seems and the Dutchman is now ready to reunite with Ten Hag at Unit
United reportedly offered a package of £60 million in their first bid for Frenkie De Jong. It guaranteed £50 million as a fee with another £10 million in add-ons. However, the Daily Mail reports that Barcelona have rejected United’s this offer. The Catalans feel their talented midfielder’s valuation is worth more than United’s first bid. Moreover, the bid also fell short of £77 million paid by Barcelona for De Jong in 2019. Further on, club president Jaon Laporta knows that they cannot take a loss of £17 million as of now.
Barcelona have therefore set an asking price of £85 million for De Jong. It is no secret that the Catalans are in a £1 billion debt and need to raise money. Even their vice president for finance Eduard Romeu revealed in an interview with Diaro Sport that the club needs to raise £430 billion by the end of June to “save themselves”. As a result, the Spanish side won’t entertain any offer below £85 million from United for Frenkie de Jong.
Though Barcelona have reportedly signed Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen, they are in no position to register the duo. Furthermore, Barca also wants to complete deals for Robert Lewandowski and Bernardo Silva, but they first need to offload some players in order to accommodate the wages of new signings. Frenkie De Jong appears to be the first victim of Barca’s offloading with United the clear winners.
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