Man Utd will sign Barcelona's Frenkie de Jong
Jacque Talbot
- Updated: 14 Jul 2022 14:57 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United continue to close in on a move for Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong, with FootballTransfers sources believing that a deal is going to happen.
Much like all of United’s business in the summer transfer window, this has proven to be a frustratingly protracted affair, with much toing-and-froing over the transfer fee.
There has been an additional concern, too, over the player’s desire to move to Man Utd given the lack of Champions League football at the club.
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It is FootballTransfers’ understanding, however, that De Jong does want to move to Old Trafford and that he did not put in a transfer request at Old Trafford because he would forgo the wages that he is owed to Barcelona in that case. Indeed, one of the reasons that Man Utd executives travelled to Spain this week was because they know of De Jong’s interest in joining up.
Barca, meanwhile, have been happy for the whole situation to be played out in public, given they know how much Man Utd need the player.
An offer from Chelsea was expected but never materialised.
Ten Hag decisive in De Jong deal
De Jong’s first choice was initially to stay at Barcelona, but after speaking to Erik ten Hag, he is now open to a move. Indeed, this would not be the first time that the former Ajax manager has turned a player’s head; it is FootballTransfers’ understanding that he was also pivotal in attracting both Tyrell Malacia and Christian Eriksen to the club, with the latter of those deals still to be made official.
Furthermore, Barcelona’s stance publicly on De Jong may be that he is not for sale, but the reality of the situation is that the Blaugrana need to get him off their books in order to cut expenditure. This is especially the case with Raphinha set to join the club imminently.
Much of the debacle in this protracted and complicated transfer saga has been played out in public in a bid to save face from both sides.
The net result, though, is that De Jong will wind up at Manchester United and Ten Hag will, therefore, land his No.1 target.
