The big question in Barcelona is not whether Frenkie de Jong leaves this summer. It’s whether the Netherlands midfielder joins Manchester United or Chelsea.
That’s according to AS journalist Javier Miguel, who provided the latest update on De Jong from Spain this afternoon.
The journalist laughs off recent claims from Barcelona president Joan Laporta because the reality is that behind the scenes the club wants to close a transfer to the highest bidder.
Moreover, AS suggest Barcelona are “more satisfied” with the offer from Chelsea since it would open the door to a possible move for Spain defender Marcos Alonso.
It would be disappointing for United to lose out on De Jong at this stage of the transfer window after spending so much time working on a deal, and I don’t quite believe Chelsea have suddenly jumped to an advantaged stage in talks.
There’s not enough in this report to believe that is the case.
Hopefully, De Jong already has a gentleman’s agreement in place with United manager Erik ten Hag, and the player is just waiting for Barcelona to pay the player money he is owed.
Barcelona always try control the narrative and that has been clear throughout the De Jong saga. This could be just another attempt to do that.