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| Frenkie de Jong of FC Barcelona celebrates after scoring their team’s second goal during the UEFA Europa League Knockout Round Play-Offs Leg Two match between SSC Napoli and FC Barcelona at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on February 24, 2022 in Naples, Italy. |
Manchester United are nearing the first signing of
the Erik ten Hag era with negotiations for Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong
on the verge of a €80 million agreement.
Ten Hag took his first training session as United
manager yesterday and appears likely to soon be reunited with a familiar face
in the form of De Jong, with the 25-year-old’s move to Old Trafford edging
closer over the weekend.
Having originally held out for €85m, Barcelona
instantly rejected an opening offer of around €65m from the Premier League club
at the start of last week.
But negotiations appear to have hit upon a
compromise price of €80m which represents a €5m profit for the selling club on
the fee they paid Ajax for his services three summers ago.
Sources at both ends of the deal claim that talks
are progressing well although United have yet to start discussing personal
terms with the Dutch international.
Those discussions are not expected to be problematic
and United hope that they may have the deal finalised as early as the end of
this week.
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| Manager Erik ten Hag of Manchester United poses at Old Trafford on May 23, 2022 in Manchester, England. |
De Jong, who made a brief substitute appearance for
Ajax as a 20-year-old against United in the 2017 Europa League final, blossomed
under Ten Hag when he took over the Dutch giants later that year.
And the new United manager has identified him as the
solution to one of the biggest areas of concern in United’s under-achieving
squad: central midfield.
The departure of Paul Pogba, who is expected to
formalise his return to Juventus in the coming days, has also created space in
United’s midfield.
Another former Ten Hag favourite, the Brazilian
winger Antony, is a further Ajax connection that United are pursuing although
those talks are nowhere near as advanced and, publicly at least, the Dutch club
insist they want to keep the 22-year-old.
But the arrival of De Jong would represent United’s
first incoming of the season, with the current delay in new arrivals alarming
supporters in the wake of widespread upheaval throughout their club’s
management structure – especially as a number of Premier League rivals have
taken significant strides in the transfer market.
Indeed, Ten Hag’s first training session saw him in
charge of a squad that showed no upgrade on the one that performed so dismally
last season.
The Dutchman started training with just 15 senior
players, with anyone involved on international duty this summer allowed extra
holiday before reporting to the club.
That means Ten Hag is yet to meet with Cristiano
Ronaldo, amid growing reports that the iconic forward is yet to be convinced by
the “rebuild” that United so clearly need.
His high-profile agent Jorge Mendes has been
reportedly surveying options for Ronaldo if he fails to see the “ambition” that
he is said to be looking for, in order to commit himself to another season at
Old Trafford.
The position of United and Ten Hag has been
unequivocally that they want Ronaldo to remain, even though he will turn 38
early in 2023.
But, even though Bayern Munich have publicly
distanced themselves from potential interest in Ronaldo, a Mendes meeting with
new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly last week did little to quash rumours that the
agent is exploring alternatives for his most famous client.
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