Manchester United have been trying to sign Frenkie de Jong throughout the summer transfer window. The Dutch midfielder is Erik ten Hag's priority target and will likely be fundamental to how he wants his side to play next season.
The Manchester Evening News understands that United have agreed a fee with Barcelona. However, the player is currently stuck in a dispute with Barca over deferred wages and this is causing problems.
United fans have started to panic and De Jong's inclusion in Barcelona's pre-season tour squad has done little to calm their nerves. Some have questioned whether it would be better to pursue other targets to ensure Ten Hag gets enough time to implement his style of play.
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However, Barcelona's recent business may give United fans a reason to feel positive. The reason the Catalan club wanted to sell De Jong was to partially fund their summer transfer business, but also to ease the pressure on their wage bill and allow new signings to be registered.
Despite De Jong not being sold, Barcelona seem to be powering through with their business. They have confirmed the signing of Raphinha from Leeds and have also agreed a deal to sign Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich. Further reports in Spain have also linked them with a move for Sevilla's Jules Kounde.
That's a massive outlay and, alongside the free transfers of Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie, a lot of players to register. So the Catalan club must expect the situation with De Jong to be resolved, but based on their recent decision-making this might not be the case.
De Jong's role in the team will be incredibly important to how Ten Hag wants his United team to play and as we have seen in the first two pre-season friendlies against Liverpool and Melbourne Victory, no senior player in the current squad can play this role effectively. Fred has been trialled there but has been hit and miss when picking the ball up from the defence and trying to move forward.
However, we are getting to the point where United must at least appear to be considering other targets. Otherwise, they could be left in a situation where they end up with no one due to circumstances out of their control, and they will be the ones who suffer.
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