‘It’s not De Jong or nothing’ – Man Utd’s midfield alternatives revealed
Ben Jacobs
- Updated: 4 Aug 2022 11:47 BST
- 4 min read
Manchester United may be finding it difficult to seal a transfer for Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong, but CSB Sports reporter Ben Jacobs writes for FootballTransfers that they have plenty of other option
Man Utd are not going to wait things out. That’s not how the transfer window works. Fans hear a saga and worry that their club is spinning a singular plate over and over again, and just wasting time.
Clubs are always making calls. The reality is that Manchester United are spinning multiple plates. They’re always lining up options even if they’re confident of a simple transfer because you never know what’s going to happen in the future.
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Man Utd have always had multiple possibilities
Even at the start of the summer when Manchester United allocated Frenkie De Jong as their top target, they were still drawing up shortlists and allocating other targets because that’s just how the transfer window works. Nothing is ever just pulled out of the hat like a rabbit.
It's not a case of De Jong and wasting time, it’s simply the reality that De Jong was and, in theory, still is Manchester United’s top preference in that position.
They looked at Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, the transfer fee there is a problem, not impossible but a difficult negotiation.
There are players like Youri Tielemans who Manchester United were interested in under Ralf Rangnick. Erik ten Hag really likes the player, available for £25 million at the lowest and £32m at the highest and only one year left on his contract and looking for a move. The problem there is that if Manchester United move, it might finally prompt Arsenal to enter into the race.
Tielemans prefers Arsenal to Manchester United, but the Gunners have slowed down on him. It was almost certain in January that they would make an early bid for him. Now Manchester United have a new manager in Erik ten Hag, they’ve got European football, which Leicester don’t, so that one is still possible as well.
United under Rangnick looked at Ruben Neves, but Wolves don’t really want to lose the player but that’s another option.
Someone like Fabian Ruiz could come into the mix as well. He’s only 26.
It’s evident in Manchester United’s thinking that, with all these names on their shortlist or vaguely speaking possibilities who could be available, they will almost certainly bring in a De Jong replacement if they know that the saga has ended and is not in their favour.
Waiting game with De Jong
But at the moment, it’s a waiting game, and Manchester United are not going to wait indefinitely and get to the final week of the window. They’ll continue contact with Barcelona and the player’s representatives to determine if there’s any imminent movement between now and the first game of the season. You never say no and burn your bridges, but you have to focus on other priorities while keeping this saga on the backburner. The door may be open to Manchester United later in the window, but there will be other targets.
The fanbase, particularly on social media, might be upset and panic and be frustrated – and Manchester United are also frustrated about how the De Jong saga is playing out at the time of recording – but there are definitely other players the club are looking at. Midfield is their priority position between now and the end of the window, and that will only really change if Cristiano Ronaldo leaves the club.
Sp there are other targets for Manchester United: it’s not De Jong or nothing, that’s for sure.
