Dharmesh Sheth, a reporter for Sky Sports, says that Frenkie de Jong is willing to work with Erik ten Hag again at Old Trafford next season.
According to Dharmesh Sheth, a Sky Sports reporter, Frenkie de Jong is open to reuniting with Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford next season.
The midfielder from Barcelona is wanted by Ten Hag to join Old Trafford, but there is still a difficulty that the player must likely resolve before a deal can take place.
What’s going on with De Jong?
United has liked the Dutch player for a long time, and reports say that a guaranteed fee of around £63 million has been agreed with Barcelona for him this summer.
Since Paul Pogba left for free this summer, Ten Hag needed more help in the middle of the field, and it looks like he’s close to getting a top target.
But there is still a problem. During the pandemic, De Jong and the other Barcelona players all took pay cuts to help the club.
But the wages were only meant to be put off, and the club still owes the 25-year-old as much as £17 million for that time.
What does Sheth have to say about the De Jong story?
Sheth told soccer trend, “From what we hear, he would be open to getting back together with Eric Ten-Hag. The problem comes down to these delayed wage payments because De Jong and most of the rest of the Barcelona team took pay cuts during the pandemic. That pay cut meant he had to wait to get paid, and we think he’s owed between 14 and 17 million pounds. So he needs that money before he can decide what to do next.”
What’s going to happen?
The former Ajax star played for Xavi’s team against Inter Miami in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday night. He played center back instead of his preferred midfield position because he wasn’t in the starting lineup.
This may be a sign that the Barça legend is making plans for the 2022–23 season without De Jong in mind, but a deal hasn’t been made yet, so we’ll have to wait and see.
It’s still not clear if De Jong will move to United this summer, but the delayed payments are definitely slowing down any deal that might happen.
Reports in Spain also say that Barcelona needs to sell to get rid of the midfielder’s salary, which is said to be £250,000 per week.
But the fact that De Jong is happy to work with Ten Hag again will help United move forward in a big way.
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