Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag sees his number one transfer target, Frenkie de Jong, as ‘an adventurer’ who is needed to transform his new team.
The Dutch coach is desperate to bring his former protégé to Old Trafford this summer and the club is doing all it can to prise De Jong away from Barcelona.
The Holland international may be an adventurer on the pitch, but he has settled in Spain and would prefer to stay at the Nou Camp, all things being equal.
Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong is the top target of Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag
Fortunately for Ten Hag, they aren’t. Barcelona’s financial difficulties and aspirations for more big money signings, means they will let him go for £55million, if a dispute over unpaid wages, a hangover of the Covid era, is settled.
So, while United chiefs John Murtough and Richard Arnold led the negotiations in Catalonia, it is, as legendary United boss Sir Alex Ferguson may have said, ‘squeaky bum time’ for Ten Hag as he leads his new team on their tour in Thailand, 6,000 miles away.
It is clear from the efforts being made that ten Hag is convinced he needs De Jong, 25, if he is to restore United to something resembling former glories. The midfielder is ten Hag’s solution to bring calm to a side characterised by chaos, last season.
The boss craves control in games and the remaining members of the midfield, Bruno Fernandes, Scott McTominay and Fred, as well as a returning Donny van de Beek, have not and perhaps cannot provide it.
Ten Hag coached De Jong at Ajax, utilising the playing as a deep-lying midfielder
CEO Richard Arnold arrived in Barcelona for a meeting with club executives over De Jong deal
Nemanja Matic has left, while Christian Eriksen, who will join on a three-year deal after completing his medical, is the back up option. It is De Jong, who played for ten Hag for three seasons at Ajax, who is the main man.
Last season, United mustered just 52 per cent possession, their lowest figure in Premier League history, according to Total Football Analysis. It reflected Fred and McTominay’s struggle to keep the ball in tight areas and Fernandes’ profligacy and error-strewn displays.
As United’s season foundered, the desperation to succeed appeared to induce more mistakes. There was an obsession to play in the ‘United way’ with surging counter attacks, but without the quality to deliver that style.
As the ball rushed forward, possession was squandered.
Fred and Scott McTominay…