Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano claims Manchester United are still ‘dreaming’ of signing Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona, even though the transfer window closes tomorrow night.
Manchester United have chased the Dutchman for most of the summer. Initially, Barcelona rejected their advances due to Xavi wanting to keep him at the Nou Camp.
But Barcelona soon changed their stance once they found out how much the Red Devils were willing to pay to get their man.
Manchester United and Barcelona agreed a £63million (€75m) fee for De Jong in mid-July.
United then got to work on sorting a contract with the midfielder and his agent. However, he revealed he had no desire to swap Barca for Old Trafford and this saw the move collapse.
United’s agreement to sign De Jong then expired, meaning they would have to start from scratch if they want to adhere to Erik ten Hag’s wishes and land the former Ajax star.
According to Spanish newspaper Sport, United have kept the door open and will sign De Jong on deadline day if he changes his mind.
Romano has now given his information on United and their hopes of bringing the 25-year-old to Manchester.
Man Utd ‘dreaming’ of Frenkie de Jong move
During an appearance on his YouTube channel (via the Daily Express), he claimed Ten Hag’s side are still ‘dreaming’ about signing De Jong, even if the move happens at the last minute.
United have added to their midfield ranks this summer by capturing Casemiro and Christian Eriksen. Lisandro Martinez can also play there if required.
However, Casemiro is a defensive midfielder, Eriksen is 30 years old and Martinez will generally operate in defence. This means United are still lacking the playmaking midfielder Ten Hag wants. De Jong is his first choice to solve this issue, no matter what has happened in the past few months.
Ten Hag’s stance, and United doing their upmost to back him, mean United could end up launching a late bid for De Jong, who has won 44 caps for the Netherlands.
Barca will likely accept, given their worrying financial situation. But once again the problem will be getting De Jong to agree to the move.
Another obstacle for United is De Jong’s wages. He is owed around £17m from Barca and wants to stay there to ensure he gets all this money back.
Moving to Manchester would see the star write off this sum, something he certainly doesn’t want to do.
This means United will have to offer De Jong a colossal salary to get him to sign, as this would compensate for the £17m loss.
Meanwhile, Everton appear to have won the race to sign a highly rated United midfielder