Barcelona directors make one last-gasp attempt to sign de Jong

Barcelona’s interest in Frenkie de Jong is no secret, but Paris Saint-Germain stepping into his pursuit, the Catalans have stepped up their efforts.

Ajax Amsterdam midfielder Frenkie de Jong is the hottest midfield property of late and there are several suitors who want to make a move for him as soon as possible. Barcelona have been monitoring the player since a long while in their proposed double raid of the Dutch giants, whereas Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City are in the race too.

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Of late, the die regarding de Jong’s transfer has been cast in favour of Paris Saint-Germain. The French champions are willing to offer the Netherlands international a bumper contract and are also willing to meet with Ajax Amsterdam’s demands of 80 million euros. Manchester City are also to check out money to replace Fernandinho.

In a last-ditch attempt to land the 21-year-old, Barcelona’s top officials in Josep Maria Bartomeu, Pep Segura, Eric Abidal and Ramon Planes have all jetted off to Amsterdam. The Catalans are keen on sorting out their potential dealing for de Jong before Ajax’s Champions League tie with Real Madrid on February 13.

While Paris Saint-Germain are miles ahead of the Catalans in terms of finances, Barcelona’s officials want to give the player’s potential transfer a warmer touch and have hence made their way to the Netherlands so as to give him assurances, especially of replacing Busquets and Rakitic, both of whom are in their 30s.

Barcelona, who want to make de Jong and his representatives feel that he is highly perceived in their plans for the future have already felt betrayed by the player’s agent Ali Dursun, who gave verbal assurances to Paris Saint-Germain according to several claims. Having already been rejected by Griezmann earlier, Barcelona do not want to bear the humiliation of another public refusal.

From De Jong’s point of view, a move to Barcelona would be a better choice than going to Paris. Firstly, he will be playing in a much competitive league in Spain and secondly, he can learn a lot from Sergio Busquets, arguably the world’s best defensive midfielder over the last few years. He should not merely chase money, but pick the more prestigious club.