Spectacular new reports indicate that Barcelona have urged Frenkie de Jong to renegotiate his current contract and return to the terms he agreed with the club’s previous board. The Catalan giants claim the contract status of the Dutchman entailed criminality.
According to David Ornstein of The Athletic, Barcelona has notified De Jong in writing that they believe they have discovered proof that the persons who renewed his contract on October 20, 2020 committed criminal acts.
In order to aid Barcelona’s financial situation, De Jong agreed to a two-year contract through 2026 that cut his compensation for the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 seasons, leaving €18 million (£15.2 million) in delayed payments to be distributed over the next four seasons.
De Jong reportedly refused to leave the club unless he receives the money he was entitled to this summer, which is the result of the postponed payments.
Although Manchester United’s offer for De Jong was accepted, the Dutch international has not yet committed to the transfer. It is believed that De Jong’s refusal to leave the Nou Camp is mostly due to the outstanding debt.
Barcelona is hoping to sell De Jong to raise money and down their excessive pay bill because they are now unable to acquire several new players, including star striker Robert Lewandowski.
According to The Athletic, Barcelona wrote to De Jong on July 14 to inform him that they felt “in a position to commence criminal proceedings to establish what happened about the signing of his contract and determine where responsibility belongs for the alleged violation.”
Barcelona’s wish to restore De Jong’s contract to the terms he initially agreed to when he joined Barcelona from Ajax in 2019 is also thought to have been expressed in the letter.
De Jong’s contract renewal was one of the last ones made by former president Josep Bartomeu before the club’s whole board of directors resigned the following year, along with those of three other players: Gerard Pique, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and Clement Lenglet.
The Athletic asserts that the previous board is certain that De Jong’s contract renewal was fully legal and insists that all stakeholders, including La Liga, gave their complete permission to the arrangement.
The current Barcelona board, however, is said to have cautioned De Jong and his representatives that they might also be implicated in the alleged criminal activity of their predecessors.
After Barcelona’s handling of midfielder Frenkie De Jong was criticized by the head of the Dutch players’ union as “crazy,” Evgeniy Levchenko even said that the club was engaged in “a form of extortion” with the player, a suggestion that current club president Joan Laporta disputed.
Despite Manchester United’s interest in De Jong and links to Chelsea, the midfielder is believed to desire to stay at Barcelona.
Laporta also said that Barcelona wants to keep De Jong despite their present financial difficulties.
“He is a Barca player of great quality and we want him to stay. He has offers, but both he and we want him to stay ” Laporta stated.
