Manchester United open direct talks with Barcelona for Frenkie de Jong with €85 million price tag: Reports

Manchester United open direct talks with Barcelona for Frenkie de Jong with €85 million price tag: Reports

Frenkie de Jong

Manchester United are expecting a huge squad overhaul this summer under new manager Eric ten Hag, with Frenkie de Jong their prime target as confirmed by Fabrizio Romano. After a difficult season that saw the Red Devils go trophy less and finish sixth in the Premier League table, Ten Hag will have a mountain of work to get United back on track.

Not to mention that as many as 7 stars are set to leave the United squad on a free transfer. Some of the prominent names include Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard. Eric ten Haag is a huge admirer of Frenkie de Jong since the duo worked together at Ajax. De Jong was part of the Ajax squad that reached the semi-finals of Champions League in 2019 and also won numerous domestic accolades.

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Frenkie de Jong wants UCL football but Manchester United hopeful that ten Hag can convince the midfielder

As confirmed by Fabrizio Romano, Frenkie de Jong seems happy at Barcelona under Xavi and wouldn’t mind continuing with the Blaugrana. Another bonus for him staying is Champions League football as United will be playing the Europa League next season. Hence, it will be a difficult round of negotiations from the United point of view. One advantage that they carry is that Barcelona need to sell players to comply with the FFP rules.

The Catalan club are aiming to land Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski and recently completed contract extensions of a number of players. Hence, club president, Joan Laporta confirmed that while they’re happy with Frenkie and both, the club and Xavi want him to stay, they might be forced to sell him in order to comply with the Financial Fair Play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP2s029INiE

Manchester United need to strengthen their midfield. With Donny van de Beek back and hopeful of getting game time under his former boss at United, he can form a reliable partnership with Frenkie de Jong. As of now, the negotiations have just begun but United will be aiming to get the dutch midfielder at Old Trafford as soon as possible.

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