Barcelona humiliate De Jong AGAIN to push him closer to Man Utd
FT Desk
- Updated: 23 May 2023 08:46 CDT
- 4 min read
It seems as if Barcelona are doing everything in their power right now to make Frenkie de Jong feel unwanted at the club.
This continued in the early hours of Wednesday morning as Barcelona thrashed Inter Miami 6-0 in a friendly.
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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Raphinha, Ansu Fati, Pablo Gavira, a Memphis Depay stunner and Ousmane Dembele scored the goals in a rout.
READ MORE: Man Utd losing patience with De Jong
But the biggest talking point was again De Jong, who started on the bench – with Xavi preferring new free transfer signing Franck Kessie instead.
When he did come on in the second half, De Jong was further humiliated by being deployed in a central defence role.
🇳🇱 Frenkie De Jong - Inter Miami vs FC Barcelona - Friendly game
pic.twitter.com/UrzUbI1buS— ⚽️ (@BarcelonaComps) July 20, 2022
This will naturally not have pleased De Jong, who has watched on this summer as Barcelona have attempted everything to push him out of the club.
Man Utd and Barcelona have been in negotiations for the best part of three months, with the Blaugrana desperate to sell the Dutchman in order to raise money to buy more players.
The two teams have already agreed a transfer fee that could reach around €85m.
However, De Jong is reluctant to move to Man Utd, both for financial and sporting reasons.
Sportingly, Manchester United failed to qualify for the Champions League next season, and De Jong wishes to play in Europe’s biggest club competition.
He is also unsure whether moving to a club that has not won the league for almost a decade – or any trophies at all for five years – would be a good career decision.
He also would like to stay at Barcelona, despite their attempts to push him out, as he considers them his dream club.
From a financial point of view, De Jong is also dismayed by the fact that he is owed a whopping €28 million by Barcelona in deferred wages.
De Jong agreed to defer a large portion of his salary during the Coronavirus pandemic in order to help the club as they were badly struggling financially, racking up debts of €1.3 billion.
De Jong is currently playing at CB vs Inter Miami. Obviously pre season and he could probably play GK in a match like this. But just adds to the whole drama.
Yes I know he has played there before. Doesn’t mean much. He isn’t a CB.— The Elite Pundit (@TheElitePundit) July 20, 2022
However, the 25-year-old did this on the understanding that Barcelona would pay him the deferred money during the rest of his contract, which expires in 2026.
Instead, Barcelona believe that Manchester United should pay him the deferred wages.
Man Utd have made it clear that they have no intention of paying off Barcelona’s debts to De Jong.
Barcelona have also tried to pressure De Jong into accepting a move to Man Utd by telling him he will have to accept another paycut – in addition to not getting his owed money – if he stays.
Barcelona’s actions naturally have started to get to De Jong, who liked an Instagram post at the weekend from a supporter which read: “I dislike the way we have handled Frenkie's situation”.
The Blaugrana’s decision to bench him and then play him out of position against Inter Miami will have only further angered him.
