Man Utd and Chelsea target Frenkie de Jong could be about to make an ‘imminent’ decision over his Barcelona future, according to reports.
We’ll believe it when we hear it. It is now almost three weeks since Barcelona and Man Utd struck a broad agreement over an €85m fee for the Netherlands international.
Many reports have indicated that the Dutch midfielder wants to remain at the Camp Nou and that he was less keen to move to the Premier League with Man Utd.
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The Red Devils have surely received some encouragement, though, with a recent report insisting that De Jong hasn’t said ‘no’ to any team yet as he attempts to sort his future.
Barcelona will only happily let him stay if he accepts a near 50 per cent pay cut, with the Catalan giants preferring to get him off their books and bank a big transfer fee.
However, with De Jong reportedly owed around £17m in deferred wages and bonuses from during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is far from a simple negotiation.
From the outside it looks simple, Barcelona should be giving De Jong the money they owe him and stop bringing in big-name signings until the situation is resolved.
Gary Neville has been extremely critical of Barca’s handling of the situation, speaking on The Overlap’s latest Fan Debate, the former Man Utd defender said: “Barcelona fans are battering me at the moment. But I find it unpalatable that they owe players at the club tens and tens of millions in wages.
“They spent £155m, the wages they’re paying to [Jules] Kounde, [Robert] Lewandowski and Raphinha are off the scale and they’re selling all their TV rights.
“So, they can do all these things but they are bullying De Jong. I don’t care if he comes to United or not, I genuinely don’t. I want him to because I think he’s a good player – but for me, if he doesn’t come, no problem. We’ll go with what we’ve got.
“They’ve deferred his wages, he’s helped the club – well done to him, it was Covid, every club was struggling. He’s obviously shown that he’s a team player. At the point whereby he goes into his big wages to get it paid back, they basically want to try and sell him and probably are trying to push him out the door.
“But they’re saying to him that he won’t get those deferred wages while they’re taking a £55 million or £75 million fee, or whatever it is, from Manchester United. That’s just wrong!…
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