(Football news) The transfer saga between Frenkie de Jong and Manchester United is set to continue as Barcelona are demanding a fee of €86 million and are not expected to lower their price. The Dutchman has been Manchester United’s number one target this summer, with Erik ten Hag keen to reunite with his former player. Barcelona have one saleable asset and want to make full use of it as La Liga has strict financial fair play rules which will not allow the club to reinvest all the money into player purchases.
United are said to have a budget of £100m – £150m, with Ten Hag keen on bringing in five players this window. United could find themselves in a precarious situation as they can manage to overpay for De Jong. The Dutchman is an exceptional player but realistically speaking he won’t solve United’s issues by himself. Man Utd need to look at other positions that need strengthening, which are a defensive midfield, centre back, right wing, right back and left back. Moreover, United are finding it extremely difficult to offload players such as Anthony Martial, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe as they still haven’t received any concrete offers from other clubs. United in all honesty need to wrap up a deal for De Jong quickly so they can focus their attention on other key areas before the pre-season tour.
Over the years, Manchester United have been working towards improving their transfer strategy in order to avoid making the same mistakes but it seems like they haven’t learnt from the blunders of the past after all. Manchester United’s Chief Executive Officer Richard Arnold met with a few fans in a pub this week and hinted at making a second offer of around €70 million plus add ons after Barcelona rejected the first bid of €60m plus ons. Xavi wants Frenkie to stay at the club, but the club needs to raise funds in order to meet certain financial deadlines and there is willingness from both the parties to conclude the deal sooner rather than later.
A few days after the club announced that they “have 200 million for signings” and “money isn’t a problem” when it comes to negotiating with Barcelona over Frenkie de Jong, a new report claims that they will take the deal slow and Manchester United hierarchy are calm. The transfer window does not open officially until July 1 and Manchester United’s hierarchy believes that there is no need to hurry as they also know Barcelona are in a complex financial situation and need to sell. The major concern amongst Manchester United fans is that the Glazer family are expected to take €11m in dividends this Friday, money that could be used in the Frenkie De Jong deal instead in order to conclude their first signing of the summer.
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