Ten Hag tells €75m summer target he can have ‘transformative impact’ at Man Utd as club renew ‘interest’
Man Utd are reportedly still ‘interested’ in signing Frenkie de Jong as Erik ten Hag thinks the Barcelona star can have a ‘transformative impact’.
It is not long now until the transfer window reopens so it feels only natural that De Jong is being talked about again.
The FC Barcelona midfielder was at the centre of a dull transfer saga in the summer as Man Utd tried to sign him.
De Jong previously worked with Ten Hag during their time together at Eredivisie side Ajax.
The midfielder’s form for the Dutch side earned him a big-money move to Barcelona in 2019. An initial fee of around €75m was spent by the Spanish side to sign him.
The centre-midfielder has proven to be a good signing for Barcelona as he has performed well for the La Liga giants.
But they are going through financial troubles, which led to several of their players taking a pay cut. Their issues also meant that they could not retain Lionel Messi last year prior to the World Cup winner’s move to PSG.
Ten Hag has a great relationship with De Jong and the manager identified him as a priority signing for Man Utd in the summer.
De Jong is owed money in unpaid wages by Barcelona and they were seemingly willing to let him leave.
They agreed a deal with Man Utd that would have seen the English side pay an initial €75m for the player’s services.
De Jong was less willing to make the deal happen, though. He was keen to stay with Barcelona and in September, he indicated that he never considered leaving the club in the summer.
“Chelsea and Man United interest? I already decided in May that I wanted to stay at Barcelona. I never changed this decision during the summer,” De Jong told NOS.
“I can’t give too many details away. But look… the club has its own ideas and I have my own ideas too and sometimes these clash with each other. But at the end of the day, things went okay.”
Man Utd eventually gave up on signing De Jong and they instead brought in Casemiro from Real Madrid.
But 90min are reporting that Ten Hag ‘remains interested’ in De Jong.
The United head coach ‘would still like to bring him to Old Trafford if he is to leave Barcelona in 2023’. It is even suggested that ‘Ten Hag has confirmed as such to the player’s representatives’.
De Jong is still experiencing issues with Barcelona and he ‘remains intent on retrieving the outstanding amount’ of money that is owed to him.
Man Utd are ‘prepared to go again’ for De Jong and Ten Hag is willing to be patient as he thinks the Barcelona man can ‘have a transformative impact on his team’.
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