Rijo Sam Daniel
Manchester City pull out of transfer race for Manchester United target Frenkie de Jong
According to Martin Blackburn of The Sun via UtdPlug on Twitter (h/t Manchester Evening News), Manchester City have decided to pull out of the race to sign Manchester United target Frenkie de Jong ahead of the summer transfer window. He has been linked with an exit from Barcelona for quite some time now and has attracted attention from various clubs as a result.
Man City had expressed their interest in facilitating a move for de Jong in the future. However, they seem to have tracked back on their stance, having ended their pursuit of signing him moving forward. Man United would be delighted to hear this news as it boosts their chances of getting their hands on the midfielder.
The Red Devils have been linked with a move for the Dutch international, and the Citizens’ exit from this transfer race would certainly help them this summer. The former has one less obstacle to deal with in their pathway, but a deal is far from being agreed upon at this moment.
Can Man Utd take advantage?
The need to bring in quality additions in the centre of the pitch is at an all-time high coming into the next season. After all, we are set to lose the likes of Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba on free transfers this summer. Even Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata, who could also play in midfield, are expected to join them.
That leaves just Fred, Scott McTominay, Donny van de Beek and Bruno Fernandes as our options in the senior team right now. That is not ideal at all, and there is a clear need to bolster the pivot positions looking at the current set of available players for that role.
De Jong is more or less a perfect reinforcement as he could seamlessly slot into our double pivot formation. After all, he did play in a two-man defensive pairing alongside Lasse Schone at Ajax under Erik ten Hag’s tenure.
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While de Jong has fared well at Barca so far, the midfielder has not hit the heights he was expected to reach consistently. That is down to him being played out of position, which allows us to offer a scenario where he can get back to his best self under incoming manager ten Hag.
Our city rivals’ presence would have greatly diminished our chances of being an attractive proposition. Fortunately, they appear to have ended their interest in de Jong, which could give us a free run at signing the 25-year-old if there are no other interested parties in the fray as well.
We are desperate for world-class signings this summer, but whether de Jong would be among them or not would need to be seen. The fans would hope that he would reunite with ten Hag to get back to his best self but let’s wait and see whether that will take place or not this summer.
