Manchester United's hopes of signing Frenkie de Jong have been dealt a huge blow despite them agreeing on an initial transfer fee for his transfer from Barcelona.
United are ready to pay £56.2million for the Dutch international, who has already cleared out his locker at Barca with a move to Old Trafford appearing to be edging closer. New United boss Erik ten Hag coached the midfielder at Ajax and held a phone call to convince the player that he should join his project at Old Trafford.
However, despite believing they have a clear run at signing the central midfielder this summer, the situation has now changed with Chelsea monitoring De Jong. Furthermore, the Blues have an upper hand in the negotiation process as they could be involved in a triple deal to land the player.
Having already completed the signing of Andreas Christensen this summer following the expiration of his contract at Stamford Bridge, Barca are now eyeing up deals to land two more defenders from west London this summer.
The Blaugrana are said by Diario AS to be more confident than ever of a deal to sign long-serving Blues defender Cesar Azpilicueta this summer while they are also hopeful of completing a deal to sign Marcos Alonso from Chelsea too. All these deals are separate, but it is a factor that gives them an upper hand in their stance on De Jong.
It has now been revealed that the Blues are using the negotiating process between the two clubs over the deals for Azpilicueta and Alonso to discuss the possibility of a move for De Jong. It is unclear what the player's stance on such a move would be – given he was open to talking to new United boss Ten Hag, with whom he shares a close relationship.
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De Jong's exit from Camp Nou this summer has been complicated as it has emerged that Barca owe the player significant payments that had been deferred from previous campaigns. The Catalan club would need to shell out an eye-watering £34.5million to the Dutchman next year as stipulated by his contract.
This is based upon De Jong's wage at the club alongside a series of payments that are owed to the player through amortizations and other clauses that are part of his deal. It is the clearest indicator yet of why Barca have been open to cashing in on the player this summer and at a value less than what they paid Ajax three years ago for his services.
In addition to this, Barca have been aware that De Jong's preference is to stay at the club this summer as he is settled in the city with his girlfriend and he has enjoyed a prominent role at Camp Nou. However, his situation remains shrouded in doubt after Chelsea entered the conversation on his future.
