Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong was targeted with verbal abuse outside the club’s training ground on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old drove towards Barcelona’s training centre on Wednesday, only to be greeted by a man outside screaming (quotes via Daily Mail): “Lower your salary, p****!”
This is just an example of the ugly scenes in Barcelona where they’ve got a vast number of financial issues to address.
Footage courtesy of Diario SPORT
To make matters worse, De Jong is under contract until June 2026, having signed an extension in 2020 – but Barcelona still owes the midfielder €17 million in deferred wages.
The Athletic claims a condition of that deal, which was signed during the COVID-19 pandemic, was that De Jong’s salary would be temporarily reduced during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons.
Now it sounds like the situation is about to get messy as we approach transfer deadline day.
De Jong has been heavily linked with a move away from Camp Nou, with Manchester United and Chelsea showing significant interest in his signature this summer.
Sky Sports stress United already have an agreement in place with Barcelona for the player.
At least De Jong would be able to travel to and from training without verbal abuse in Manchester.