The price Man Utd would pay for Frenkie de Jong in January
FT Desk
- 19 Oct 2022 18:20 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United are prepared to pay up to €80 million in order to sign Frenkie de Jong in January, according to Fichajes.
The Spanish daily reports that despite failing to sign the Dutchman this past summer and instead paying €70m for Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro, United would still like to make a big investment on De Jong in 2023.
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Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag is adamant that De Jong is the player who will take his midfield and team to the next level.
The Red Devils were in negotiations to sign De Jong for much of the summer.
Barcelona are understood to have accepted an €85m bid from Man Utd in July, and made it clear to the 25-year-old that they wanted him to move to Old Trafford.
The reason for that is because Barcelona needed to raise cash by selling players and lowering their wage bill in order meet La Liga spending requirements, which they eventually did by selling off club assets and shares in their TV deals.
In the end, De Jong refused to join Man Utd and stayed at Barcelona.
The Blaugrana also tried to force De Jong to reduce his salary if he didn’t move, which the player refused to do, with reports that Barcelona even threatened legal action.
De Jong was furious that Barcelona refused to pay him €18 million in wages he was allegedly owed after he agreed to defer them to help the club through their post-Coronavirus financial crisis.
The midfielder slammed Barcelona earlier this week in regards to the treatment he has received at the hands of his club.
What did De Jong say?
“There has been a campaign. Look, I never spoke a word myself,” De Jong told Ziggo Sport, in response to reports that De Jong is the highest paid player at Barcelona.
“The club, or the media associated with the club, have spread a lot of lies. A lot is not true.
“In each of the first three years I played here, I cut my salary. So eventually money has to come back and it will drop on your normal salary so of course it will look bigger.
“I think many people don’t understand this and the numbers the media are spreading are fake.”
It remains to be seen whether De Jong would be now willing to join Man Utd in 2023 but the fact he has featured mainly as a substitute or rotation player for Barcelona so far this season will help Ten Hag’s cause.
