De Jong was "more receptive to joining Man Utd than he showed"
Karan Tejwani
- 2 Sept 2022 14:00 BST
- 3 min read
The summer transfer window has ended with Manchester United not signing their primary target, Frenkie de Jong, despite over 17 weeks of interest and negotiation.
Manchester United first opened talks with Barcelona for De Jong in May, and even agreed a fee in July, but have not ended up signing the player from the Blaugrana.
De Jong remains at the club, which was his initial aim anyways, and will continue the rest of the season playing in Xavi’s side having already had important minutes in the opening games of the season.
The situation got messy in the middle, and according to the Manchester Evening News, De Jong was more keen on joining Manchester United than he often showed.
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The report suggest that Manchester United’s transfer chief, John Murtough, had a verbal agreement over terms with De Jong’s agent, Ali Dursun.
There was also a belief that as a result of the agreement, De Jong was keen to join – more than he often expressed and could’ve had a reunion with Erik ten Hag, who he worked with at Ajax previously.
The stumbling block was the issue around De Jong’s deferred wages, which came as a result of a contract extension the Dutchman agreed back in 2020 – he is believed to be owed €18 million by Barcelona.
Hearing Manchester United are interested in signing Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong in January. One to keep an eye on.
— Si Lloyd (@SmnLlyd5) September 1, 2022
Murtough described the situation and Barcelona’s behaviour as “disgraceful”, and that it was a major problem in getting a deal done, as other clubs like Chelsea also learned later on.
United did end up making some midfield reinforcements, completing the signing of Casemiro from Real Madrid exactly 100 days after they began talks with Barcelona over a transfer for De Jong.
There was a plan to sign Adrien Rabiot from Juventus as well, with the idea of pairing him with another marquee signing – although it’s unclear whether that player was Casemiro or De Jong at the time of interest.
The summer has been dominated by this situation, and it’s ended with no changes: De Jong got what he most desired, while United have moved on, with the possibility of this situation resuming later on.
