Frankie De Jong revealed he never wanted a move to Manchester United as he stated that staying at Barcelona was his wish.
Barcelona midfielder Frankie De Jong was one of the targets of Erik Ten Hag at Manchester United but his moved never went through.
De Jong has now revealed that he never wanted to join Manchester United as he wanted to stay at Camp Nou.
Barcelona wanted De Jong to either leave or take a major pay cut as he was given an ultimatum then to do that.
If he had leave for Manchester and reunite with old Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, the Spanish team would have pocketed the sum of £72million.
Despite Barcelona financial issue, Barca and De Jong were able to come to an agreement and the Dutch player remained at Camp Nou, which was what he wanted.
De Jong, who is away on international duty with Holland, opened up on a possible move in a press conference.
He said in an interview on international duty: “I always wanted to stay at Barcelona and this is why I always remained calm in the summer.”
There were lots of war amid De Jong stay at the Spanish club but refused to go into details.
De Jong added: “I can’t give too much details away.
“But look.. the club has it’s own ideas and I have my own ideas too and sometimes this clashes with each other.
“But at the end of the day things went OK.”
The former Ajax player is still very much in Barca boss Xavi’s plans.
The ex-Ajax ace has played eight times so far this season and has one league goal to his name.
Barca had a big summer spend and brought in star names such as Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kounde, Raphinha and Franck Kessie.
Xavi is hoping to close the gap on current LaLiga and Champions League holders Real Madrid.
Barca are sat second in the table, two points off Real at the top of the league.
