Manchester United And FC Barcelona Reportedly Agree To Deal For De Jong Transfer

Manchester United and FC Barcelona have reportedly agreed a deal for the transfer of Frenkie de Jong.

The Netherlands international has been strongly linked with a move to Old Trafford since the close of the La Liga season, and is said to be new Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag’s prime transfer target ahead of the new PremierPINC
League campaign kicking off in August.

The two European giants have been negotiating for some time with regards to Barca’s 2019, €75mn ($79mn) signing from Ajax where Ten Hag extracted the best club form from the 25-year-old on a run to the Champions League semi-finals.

Seeing eye to eye on a fee has provided a sticking point, with United at one point threatening to call off the deal altogether.

On Tuesday afternoon, however, ESPN report that United and Barca have agreed on the Mancunians paying €65mn ($68.3mn) up front for De Jong and then performance-based add-ons which can take the final cost of the transfer north of €80mn ($84mn).

Sources close to the talks said that “significant” hurdles must still be overcome, but there is increasing confidence in both northwestern England and Catalonia that the transfer can be concluded in the coming days.

Barca sources admit that an agreement is drawing nearer, but the final figures in terms of the fixed up front payment and add-ons are still yet to be hashed out.

Even so, while Barca will not get the €100mn ($105mn) they originally wanted for De Jong, a sale for the already quoted figures still represents a profit on what they paid for the midfielder three years ago when beating the likes of Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City to his signature.

Barca want any deal to get over the line before Thursday June 30, which is when they close their accounts for 2021/2022. But it is not believed that will be possible with so little time to spare.

Barca, though, in debts of around $1.5bn, can still raise money this week by selling 10% of their LaLiga television rights.

In offloading De Jong, they can also focus on their own transfer targets such as Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, City’s Bernardo Silva, and Sevilla’s Jules Kounde.