Frenkie de Jong said it himself. It is not hard to connect the dots between him, his former manager Erik ten Hag, Manchester United’s desperate need of a midfield and Barcelona’s many creditors. In theory, swapping Camp Nou for Old Trafford makes a lot of sense. “I understand that that link is made,” De Jong admitted when asked about the speculation while away on international duty with the Netherlands earlier this month. “That sum is not that difficult, it is logical.”
To actually pull off a deal in practice has proved somewhat harder. United’s interest in De Jong has been public knowledge for more than a month now. Talks are ongoing but a compromise over the fee still needs to be found. While Barcelona are keen to extract as much as possible to ease their debt worries, United will not pay over the odds. The budget at Old Trafford is described as “sizeable” – and can be supplemented by proceeds from player sales – but it is far from limitless.
