Manchester United are continuing to pull out all of the stops to sign Barcelona star Frenkie de Jong, but the player is still reluctant to leave the Nou Camp this summer.
Erik ten Hag has now signed Tyrell Malacia and Christian Eriksen despite a slow start to the summer transfer window, and a deal for Lisandro Martinez has been agreed with Ajax. But De Jong has been their main transfer target since Ten Hag took on the role, with the Dutchman keen to reunite with his former star.
With the season fast approaching they face an ultimatum, either put all their eggs in one basket and hope that a move gets completed, or face deadline day with the knowledge that they've potentially wasted a whole summer trying. Former United manager David Moyes chose the latter, and it didn't end well.
Back in 2013, United had just won their 13th Premier League title, and legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson bid farewell to Old Trafford. He passed over the reigns to fellow Scotsman Moyes, who left Everton to take charge of the Red Devils instead.
Moyes may have earned his stripes at Everton, but the pulling power at United was wounded as the household name of Ferguson was no more. Moyes wanted to make a statement in the summer transfer window and looked to make a splash by signing Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Cesc Fabregas.
However, despite reportedly offering more than Real Madrid for Bale, the Welshman moved to Spain, and Kroos later followed him. But Moyes did everything in his power to bring Fabregas to United as his talisman, but was left chasing shadows.
Moyes spent the whole summer trying to sign the former Barcelona midfielder, but after it transpired that a deal was no longer possible he instead turned to his old side Everton and signed Marouane Fellaini on the final day. Moyes may have been alright if he got in his chosen targets, but it wasn't long until the Scotsman was sacked after a poor start to life at United.
Moyes justified the failed deals by saying: "Sometimes you don't get deals done. Gareth Bale we were probably behind all along, Real Madrid were well in for it. The Cesc one was disappointing. It was very close. And Toni Kroos came up in January - it was done."
Ten Hag may have a different type of connection with De Jong than Moyes did with Fabregas, but he risks making the exact same mistake as the current West Ham boss. If De Jong doesn't want to move, United have to turn their attention to other targets.
The current United boss clearly isn't taking the same hint that Fabregas gave Moyes back in 2013, and the fact that he claimed he wanted to stay at Barcelona but then moved to Chelsea a year later proves how little he was interested. Regardless of the potential, or how stubborn Ten Hag or United may be, what's the point of signing someone that doesn't want to be there?
Unless Ten Hag is certain behind the scenes then there clearly is a missing link, as De Jong has made his stance fairly clear. And there's not much Barcelona can do either, as the midfielder still has a contract that he's entitled to run down.
United have already experienced the damage of players that don't want to be at the club, with Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard leaving Old Trafford this summer. And with Cristiano Ronaldo potentially leaving too, Ten Hag doesn't need further issues.
