Barcelona make decision on Man Utd transfer target Frenkie de Jong

Stuart Telford

• 21 Jul 2023 21:59 BST
• 3 min read

Barcelona look to have hammered the final nail in the coffin of Manchester United's Frenkie de Jong ambitions by naming the Dutchman one of their club captains.

United were linked with a move for De Jong for all of last summer before eventually giving up and signing Casemiro from Real Madrid for €70.7 million instead, but speculation they could go back in for him remains.

De Jong may have described Barca as his "dream club," but they are also a European giant €1.35 billion in debt who have been told by La Liga to raise €200m before next season kicks off - and De Jong is one of their most saleable assets.

READ: Araujo among 'seven or eight exits' at Barcelona this summer

De Jong and United manager Erik ten Hag won the Dutch domestic double together in 2019, and the latter has made no secret of his desire to be reunited. But De Jong looks like he is at Barca for the long haul after they made him a club captain.

Captain Frenkie

"2023/24 Barça Captains Confirmed!!!!" read a simple statement on the club's official Twitter channel, with De Jong pictured alongside Ronald Araujo, Sergi Roberto and Marc-Andre ter Stegen (from left to right above).

Barca had space on their captain's council with Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba both now having joined Lionel Messi at David Beckham's Inter Miami. De Jong and Araujo are the new names who have filled that void.

READ: EXCLUSIVE: Man City pursue De Jong swap deal with Barcelona

De Jong is valued at €40.5m by FootballTransfers in-house algorithm, a fee United can't reach unless they sell players having signed Mason Mount from Chelsea and Andre Onana from Inter Milan in recent weeks.

A move across town to Manchester City has appeared to be more likely of late, with FootballTransfers collaborator Steve Kay exclusively revealing that Pep Guardiola was willing to sanction a swap deal involving Bernardo Silva.