Barcelona president Joan Laporta is preparing to ruin Manchester United’s chances of signing Frenkie de Jong saying the club has no intention of selling the Dutchman.
This summer, Manchester United’s main objective is to sign the Dutch central midfielder, as Erik ten Hag seeks to capture the youngster he helped develop at Ajax.
The two teams appeared to have made progress in their negotiations last week, according to reports, but Laporta appears to have pushed back on those reports by stating that the club would prefer to keep De Jong this summer.
Speaking in public about one of the most publicized sagas of this summer transfer window, Laporta claimed that while a number of clubs were interested in signing him, Barcelona would like to keep him.
The President said: ‘There are clubs that want him, not just United. We have no intention of selling him, he wants to stay.
‘Frenkie is considered as one of the best midfielders in the world by all the experts. We are happy to have him.’
Due to the club’s dire financial situation, Barcelona must dispose players this summer in order to sign new players and have them registered in time for the season
Also, due to the necessity to reduce their payroll, they are now unable to sign Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie, free agents from Chelsea and AC Milan, respectively.
La Liga’s “one in four rule” restricts them, requiring them to save four times as much as they spend.
Laporta’s remarks were modified by his admission that keeping De Jong would be difficult given the club’s severe financial situation.
‘I’m going to do everything I can in my power so that Frenkie stays here, but there’s also a salary issue and that would have to be adjusted,’ Joan Laporta continued.
De Jong has made it clear that he prefers to stay at Barcelona, and doing so would be a serious setback for Ten Hag and Manchester United because the team appears to have put a lot of eggs in the metaphorical De Jong’s basket.
De Jong is top of the United’s priority list this summer, with the midfielder being considered the ideal player to launch the Ten Hag-led revolution.
This information was revealed at a leaked meeting between Chief Executive Richard Arnold and supporters at a Cheshire pub.
‘You are always flattered when teams show interest in you as a player,’ the Manchester United target said.
‘But I think I am at the biggest club in the world at the moment, I feel fine there, so no news.’
