A transfer from Frenkie de Jong to Manchester United still seems a long way off. On Wednesday evening, the Spanish journalist Gerard Romero said that De Jong is ’95 percent sure’ going after Erik ten Hag, but the English-speaking branch of ESPN pulls the brake. There are several reasons why the arrival of De Jong will be a difficult story for Manchester United. Journalist Alex Shaw even speaks of a ‘laundry list’ red flags†
ESPN acknowledges that Manchester United are looking for reinforcements on the midriff and that De Jong finds an interesting candidate. However, the presence of Ten Hag is not a decisive reason for the Barcelona midfielder to go to England. His preference would be a longer stay at the Camp Nou, as Fabrizio Romano also emphasized earlier this month. Only when he gets the message that he is superfluous does he want to make a transfer. In that case, De Jong is aiming for a club that will play in the Champions League next season. Manchester United does not meet that criterion.
Another club of interest, Manchester City, could be a more attractive option for that reason. In 2019 had the Citizens Already interested in De Jong, who then chose to exchange Ajax for Barcelona. Josep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, is described as an ‘admirer’ of De Jong. Although the wealthy superpower already pulled the wallet for Erling Braut Haaland this week, reports ESPN that they are not yet ready for the transfer market. Partly due to the imminent departure of Fernandinho and the interest in Oleksandr Zinchenko, there is room for reinforcements in the midfield and the back positions.
‘Erik ten Hag has Frenkie de Jong for 95 percent at Man United’
According to Gerard Romero, the transfer from Frenkie de Jong to Barcelona is almost complete.
De Jong has not been able to fully convince in three seasons at Barcelona. According to Romero, the Catalans realize that if the performance of the the Dutch international does not explode next season, his transfer value will decrease considerably. Barcelona is, according to reports from the Spanish journalist, prepared to take his loss and say goodbye for at least seventy million euros. This means that a large part of his purchase amount – Ajax received 86 million euros in 2019 – is recouped. Ten Hag would hope to be able to make his first purchase from De Jong.
Alex Shaw, journalist from ESPNrecalls that in March De Jong opposed Ziggo Sports still responded with ‘yes, I think so’ when asked if he would sign for another six years in Barcelona. De Jong said he would prefer to play for Barcelona as long as possible. “Life is fantastic here. We are having a great time. As a footballer there are few better places to live than Barcelona.” According to Shaw, the link between Ten Hag and De Jong is exaggerated. “Yes, he played under Ten Hag, but Alfred Schreuder is seen as the man with a greater influence.” In another tweet, he wrote: “I don’t think Manchester United should target players who don’t really want them, because that’s one of the reasons why it’s in the situation it is in right now.”