Barcelona star Frenkie de Jong rejects Manchester United transfer move
According to the Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo (h/t The Express), Barcelona star Frenkie de Jong has turned down a move to join Manchester United in the summer transfer window. As such, completing a deal for the midfielder is seemingly unlikely at this point which would be a damning blow for the English side indeed.
De Jong has always maintained that he wants to remain at Camp Nou and has now “rejected” the approach from Man United. The latter was in negotiations with Barca, with Erik ten Hag trying his best to convince the holding midfielder, but all those efforts have now been put to waste.
De Jong, whose future with the Catalans is far from certain, looks set to stay with them going by this update. The Dutch international potentially joining the Red Devils is a highly unlikely possibility right now, which would be a difficult pill to swallow for Man United, looking at the time they spend pursuing him.
Worst fears coming true?
The supporters have grown weary looking at the time the Manchester side had spent chasing after the 35-year-old this summer. While one could understand why they did that, as ten Hag has been more than eager to reunite with his former player, a clear deadline should have been set to deal with this situation.
However, that is not what happened, and we are now being left stranded in a difficult situation if this information happens to be true. In any case, our immediate priority should be to search for alternative targets so that our needs in midfield can be addressed.
We have been linked with Leicester City’s Youri Tielemans, with Ajax’s Lisandro Martinez also being an option in defensive midfield. It remains to be seen how ten Hag would react to this setback dealt by de Jong and whether any new targets would be identified to solve our issues.
More Manchester United News
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- Transfer News: Jose Mourinho wants AS Roma to target Manchester United target Paulo Dybala
- Ronald Koeman: Frenkie de Jong still eyes Barcelona stay despite Manchester United agreement
It is quite imperative that the Mancunians bring in some midfield reinforcements following the massive exodus that took place in the centre of the pitch. The exits of Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard have left us shorthanded, which must be rectified at the earliest.
While Christian Eriksen is expected to join us ahead of the next season, he would not be enough to maintain the depth by himself. Let’s hope that we will learn from our mistakes and be quick about signing our targets from here on out.
