The future of Frenkie de Jong at Barcelona appears set to take a fresh twist with the midfielder set to once again dismiss the club's demand that he reduces his contract.
Manchester United had an initial transfer fee of £56.2million agreed with Barca last summer to sign the Dutch midfield maestro, but the player had no intention of leaving the Camp Nou. The Catalan club were intent on offloading their highest-earning player and will listen to offers for him next summer should he continue to refuse to reduce his salary.
De Jong has increasingly been at odds with the club's board including criticising them for leaking his contract details this summer. The wage details of the midfielder emerged once he declared his intention of staying on his current contract with suggestions coming from the club that the contract may not be valid.
The Dutch international is entirely happy playing for the club and with his life in the city, meaning that the chances of any exit are unlikely. However, the tension between the board at the Blaugrana and the player are unlikely to go away anytime soon.
As reported by Sport, the club have made a fresh approach to the former Ajax ace to request once again that he reduces his salary – but that attempt is unlikely to be successful. Barcelona need to reduce their current salary outgoings of €600million to €400m for next season, in order to register new players and any new contracts.
De Jong’s salary reduction is the club’s priority in this regard but there will need to be several first-team squad exits to facilitate this. It follows a busy year of arrivals at the club with Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres, Raphinha, Andreas Christensen, Marcos Alonso, Hector Bellerin, Franck Kessie and Jules Kounde among a multitude of arrivals at the club.
Have Your Say! Should Man Utd give up their interest in signing Frenkie de Jong? Tell us what you think here.
That was a result of a series of the club’s self-described ‘economic levers’ which were essentially selling assets and TV rights, which will lead to a reduction of income over the next 25 years. Barca’s finances will take another hit next year as the Camp Nou's redevelopment will see a significant reduction in matchday income.
De Jong’s role at Barca has been a limited one this season with just over half of the club’s matches seeing him involved from the start. Sergio Busquets will leave at the end of the season when his contract expires, which will help ease the wage bill, but Barca are keen to identify a replacement for the Spain international.
The prominence of Pedri and Gavi alongside the signing of teenager Pablo Torre means that De Jong's involvement has been reduced and that, coupled with his salary, has driven their desire to sell him.
