Frenkie de Jong moving closer towards Manchester United

Frenkie de Jong set to be a casualty of Barcelona’s financial situation

The future of Frenkie de Jong is going to be one of the hot-button issues of this transfer window. Barcelona’s financial situation has put them in a position where they need to sell players and the Dutch midfielder is one of the few on the squad who would command a significant transfer fee.

Manchester United has been strongly linked with a move for De Jong the last couple of weeks. Their new manager, Erik ten Hag, has asked for his signing as he wants him to be one of the pillars of his United team. The pair worked together when he was managing Ajax.

According to Sport, Barcelona and Manchester United are reportedly getting closer to a potential deal. The report claims the Red Devils would be willing to pay the amount Barcelona would want which is close to €80 million. The final decision, however, would come down to De Jong.

While he has been adamant he wants to stay at Barcelona — if he were to move he wants to play on a team playing Champions League — perhaps he’s starting to change his mind given his comments after the Nations League game with the Netherlands.

"“Of course, I play in a completely different way for the Dutch national team than for Barcelona. I think this suits me a lot better,” De Jong told NOS.“I like it when I am one of the first points of contact in midfield from the defense.” When asked if his desire is to get on the ball as often as possible, De Jong replied: “Yeah, sure.”Source: Manchester Evening News"

Finding the right position for Frenkie has been a headache for his managers. He’s been coached by Ernesto Valverde, Ronald Koeman and Xavi Hernandez.

Many expected the arrival of Koeman, who coached him during his tenure with the national team, would solve a lot of the problem. That wasn’t the case. He’s had his ups and downs with Xavi as well.

Based on his comments, he seems to prefer the role currently occupied by Sergio Busquets. Given Busquets’ age, his time at Barcelona is close to coming to an end. They’ve yet to find a replacement and it appears they don’t thing that replacement is De Jong.

Xavi has consistently expressed how highly he rates De Jong but has also brought up the club’s economic situation.

Manchester United are adamant in their interest but, again, it will come down to whether or not De Jong will accept a move.

There is a vote coming up soon for Barcelona members where they will vote for a couple of proposals that would see the club earn a decent amount of revenue. It could be enough to where they won’t need to sell De Jong.

The vote is set to take place on June 16. If nothing happens from here until then, De Jong’s future may well be settled quickly thereafter.