Barcelona to keep Manchester United target De Jong
Manchester United to miss out on Frankie De Jong has Barcelona is keen to keep the former Ajax player at Nou camp this summer.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta insists that the club do not have any intention to make former Ajax player Frankie De Jong leave the club this summer.
The Dutch has been linked with Premier League club Manchester United as former Erik Ten Hag wants the service of his former midfielder at his new club.
According to report this week stated that Manchester United have agreed an initial deal of €65 million fee with Barca for the Dutch midfielder, though it was said that there were still “significant” hurdles to overcome.
The 25 years old has been on United manager Erik ten Hag’s top summer target but he is also a target of other clubs.
“Frenkie de Jong is a Barca player and he is considered as one of the best players in the world,” Laporta told reporters on Saturday. “We know other clubs wants him, not just [Manchester] United and we have no intention to sell him. I have a feeling that the player wants to stay.
“He is happy at Barca and I’m going to do everything I can for Frenkie to remain.”
De Jong is under contract with Barca until June 2026 and has said publicly that he would like to stay at the Camp Nou.
Barca paid €75m for De Jong when they signed him from Ajax in 2019 with another €11m in potential add-ons.
United are looking to bolster their midfield after the departures of Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic at the end of the season. Matic has joined Roma on a free transfer while Pogba will join Juventus.
Barca sold 10% of their domestic television rights to Sixth Street last week for €207.5m and sources told media on Friday that they are hopeful of selling another 15% of their rights in order to further ease their perilous financial situation and raise up to €200m for transfers.