The biggest loser from Frenkie de Jong rejecting Man Utd
FT Desk
- 30 Aug 2022 21:44 BST
- 3 min read
Frenkie de Jong is digging his heels in at Barcelona. Good news for fans of the Dutch midfield maestro; less so for one of his Camp Nou teammates.
De Jong had been linked with a move to Manchester United all summer, Barca desperate to get his significant pay off their wage bill, and United's new manager Erik ten Hag keen to be reunited with his former Ajax star.
But De Jong is still owed €17 million in unpaid salary, and he seems willing to tough it out at Barca, whom he previously described as his "dream club."
Man Utd's Frenkie de Jong scoring for Barcelona 😉pic.twitter.com/FcCqI3ZRyV
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 25, 2022
While Barca are optimistic of selling Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Chelsea for €30m before the transfer window closes, they need to sell more players to continue pulling out of their debt, which stood at €1.3 billion at its height.
De Jong staying at Camp Nou means that Miralem Pjanic might have to be sacrificed. The Bosnian flopped after joining from Juventus for €65m in 2020 and endured a fruitless spell on loan at Besiktas last season.
Pjanic "convinced" Xavi
But he had impressed Xavi with his performances in training in recent weeks, the coach saying before the opening day 0-0 draw with Rayo Vallecano that: "Pjanic has convinced me and he will stay with us."
But Pjanic has an offer from Saudi Arabia, as first reported by Cadena COPE's Helena Condis Edo, and Barcelona are now likely to accept their bid.
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"Al-Nassr is interested in signing him," Codis Edo said of Pjanic on Twitter. "The club from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has contacted Pjanic's entourage.
"They are trained by Rudi García and are trying to make a competitive team, with European signings like Alvaro Gonzalez."
Pjanic might have been given a second chance had De Jong freed up €85m in transfer budget plus a squad place, but with De Jong digging in it appears Pjanic will be the biggest loser.
