Frenkie de Jong is reportedly considering taking a mammoth pay cut to stay at Barcelona following a personal plea from Xavi Hernandez - despite ongoing interest from Manchester United.
The Dutch midfielder has been at the heart of the summer's biggest transfer saga, with United desperate to bring De Jong to Old Trafford. Erik ten Hag is keen to reunite with De Jong, who was one of the most influential players at Ajax during their time working together in Amsterdam.
Despite reportedly agreeing on an initial fee of £56.2million to sell De Jong to United, Barcelona have publicly insisted that they would like to retain the playmaker's services. And according to a new report from AS, the Spanish giants are now trying to persuade De Jong to slash his salary in order to remain at the Nou Camp.
Barcelona are desperately trying to save cash and Xavi has now instigated talks with De Jong in a bid to find a solution that would enable the former Ajax man to stay at the club. The Barcelona boss has reiterated that he still views the 25-year-old as a 'valid player in his project', despite constant speculation over his future.
However, the iconic Barcelona midfielder also made it clear that De Jong will have to 'make an effort' to remain a part of his ambitious rebuilding project - which would involve almost halving his current salary. It is claimed that De Jong is in line to earn around €30m (£25.5m) gross; a sum far higher than the €20m (£17m) ceiling that Barcelona president Joan Laporta is bidding to implement.
Both De Jong and Xavi are said to have left the meeting 'satisfied', hinting that De Jong could actually be open to taking a huge financial hit to remain in Spain.
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That would come as a significant blow to Manchester United, who have still not given up hope of luring the midfield maestro to Old Trafford. De Jong is seen as the perfect fit for a side that has struggled to strike a balance in midfield over the past couple of seasons, and Ten Hag has already made a personal plea to his former charge over a move.
But even though the Dutchman has informed De Jong that he would become the "conductor of the orchestra" at United, it appears as though Ten Hag may have to consider alternative targets to bolster his midfield.
Laporta went one further by denying that Barcelona had even accepted an offer for De Jong at all on Sunday; signalling that United's hopes of prising the midfielder away from Barcelona at this point are pretty remote.
He told ESPN, Laporta said: "Frenkie de Jong is our player, we really like him. We received some offers for Frenkie but we didn't accept as of now, as we want to talk with him and know exactly what he wants. We need to clarify some aspects of his situation."
