De Jong Refuses To Join Chelsea From FC Barcelona

Frenkie de Jong is refusing to leave FC Barcelona and join Chelsea or Manchester United.

The Dutch midfielder, who joined Barca in a €75mn transfer from Ajax in 2019, has had his name attached to one of the biggest transfer sagas of the summer.

Manchester United have been interested him since before the close of the last La Liga season, and were said to have agreed a deal worth €85mn with the Catalan for his capture.

Yet De Jong has been adamant that he will not switch allegiances. Not only does he want to play Champions League football, but he is also happy with his lot in Barcelona where he has just bought a €5mn mansion and recently got engaged.

On the football side of things, SPORT say, De Jong feels that the time to enjoy success at Camp Nou has finally arrived under Xavi Hernandez after enduring so many “aimless projects” that were “doomed failure”.

Barca also see nothing wrong with De Jong’s game or his style of play, but have reportedly tried to force him to leave in order to navigate Financial Fair Play rules. Furthermore, they cannot afford his mammoth salary next season while in $1.5bn’s worth of debt, which was agreed to undergo a huge increase under the watch of previous president Josep Bartomeu.

Despite the activation of three ‘economic levers’ they are now considering a forth just to get new signings such as Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde registered.

With De Jong reaching an impasse with United, hope of offloading him was falling by the wayside until a new interested party emerged in Chelsea.

Rather than make an offer to his club first, however, and risk getting egg on their face as did United, the west Londoners will apparently try and persuade De Jong of the strengths of their sporting project first.

Not only can they offer him games in the Champions League, but Thomas Tuchel’s men have a good chance of breaking up Manchester City’s dominance in the PremierPINC
League and can challenge for the English top flight title.

Barca have granted Chelsea permission to negotiate directly with De Jong, but SPORT say that the 25-year-old is still showing no signs of having his arm twisted with the end of the transfer market on September 1 “dangerously close”.

Chelsea need to get their skates on, and Barca will hope that they move swiftly so that they can make their own separate approach for Bernardo Silva.