Barcelona Preparing New Contract For Man United Target Frenkie De Jong
Barcelona are getting ready to convince Manchester United target Frenkie de Jong to sign a new contract on reduced terms.
However, this could be a boost for United and Erik ten Hag, who has been tracking the midfielder since last summer.
For a couple of months now, the club has been interested in the Dutch international as it became public knowledge that he was the manager’s primary target. Instead, the manager was unsuccessful in his pursuit but was able to sign Casemiro and Christian Eriksen last summer.
The new midfielders reignited Man United’s team but haven’t been perfect, with performances in the second half of the season declining.
It has been felt recently with the team losing two Premier League games on the bounce to a 1-0 defeat.
Ten Hag will be hoping that he can secure the signings of a couple more players in the summer to help bolster his options.
Mundo Deportivo reports that Barcelona must cut around €200 million from the club this summer if they want to sign new players.
They’re already planning on terminating Barca TV, which is similar to MUTV, while renewing a couple of other players on reduced wages. The players mentioned are De Jong and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, with the club planning on sitting down with them soon.
United could be handed a small boost if this is true with Barcelona struggling financially again.
Last summer, the Spanish giants tried convincing Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets to re-sign on reduced wages.
Subsequently, the former United defender, who went back to Barcelona in 2008, retired just before the World Cup at the end of last year. This did help the club financially but it failed to help with the club still not on the good side of financial fair play regulations.
Busquets never agreed to a reduced wage contract with the player unsure if he would continue beyond his current deal. This is where United comes in with the club constantly looking at the movements between Barca and De Jong.
If the Holland international fails to agree, then it would make sense for United to come back in for the midfielder. However, if the club fails to qualify for the Champions League once again, it seems very unlikely that he would consider moving to Manchester.
