Man United have an outline deal in place to sign Frenkie de Jong, though things aren’t moving quickly…
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that Manchester United have spent the large majority of their time this summer chasing Frenkie de Jong.
The Dutch midfielder, who worked with Erik ten Hag at Ajax before transferring to FC Barcelona, seems to be the top priority for United’s new boss.
The pendulum has swung back and forth in regards to whether United will sign De Jong, though as things stand, we’re still unsure whether this deal will actually happen.
Simon Stone of the BBC has provided the latest information for us, claiming that an ‘outline’ deal is in place for United to sign the 25-year-old. However, progress towards the completion of the transfer is ‘slow’.
On the contrary, Barcelona themselves have publicly claimed that De Jong isn’t for sale, despite that broad agreement being in place.
According to Stone, it’s a salary issue that’s holding up the deal. The Dutchman apparently agreed to a major restructuring of his Barca contract throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Simply put, the player wants some sort of compensation for the money he should have earned by now, but the club haven’t given him to this point
There’s no doubt that United will continue to push hard to get this deal done, though I do worry about whether the Reds have spent too much time already chasing De Jong.
If they fail now, the summer would go down as a borderline disaster, particularly with Ten Hag desperate to reunite with De Jong in Manchester.
What feels clear is this one is going to drag on for a fair while yet. With pre-season tour starting tomorrow, Ten Hag is probably getting rather stressed about the whole situation…
