Revealed: Barcelona's Plan B if Frenkie de Jong's Man Utd transfer falls through

Updated: 27 Jul 2022 16:29 BST
3 min read

Frenkie de Jong, Barcelona, 2021/22 — © ProShots

Barcelona need to sell players in order to register their new signings. What will they do if Frenkie de Jong refuses to leave?

Barca have embarked on a significant spending spree this summer, dropping more than €100 million on acquiring Raphinha from Leeds and Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich, and they look set to add Sevilla's Jules Kounde to that collection of stars.

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Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen have also been picked up on free transfers from AC Milan and Chelsea respectively, and all but Kounde have made their Barca debuts during the club's pre-season tour of the United States.

"It is crazy when players have to pay for the financial mess!"

Barcelona are taking all the punches over their 'extortion' of Frenkie de Jong 🤕https://t.co/K3EPbK7hQt
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) July 26, 2022

But none of the above players have yet been registered to take part in official, competitive matches for Barcelona, with the club - who were more than €1 billion in debt at the height of their recent financial travails - still needing to balance the books.

De Jong has long been regarded as their most saleable asset, the Dutch international midfielder ranked at €64m by Football Transfers sophisticated in-house algorithm, and Erik ten Hag wants to be reunited with his former Ajax player at Manchester United.

The issue is that De Jong does not want to play in the Europa League next season and Barcelona still owe him a reported €17m in unpaid wages.

Barcelona's plan B

De Jong is currently Barcelona's highest-paid player but, according to Spanish radio network Cadena SER, they could offload another player in order to avoid activating a third "financial lever" which would cost them future income.

"Faced with this situation… the club is thinking of a Plan B," they write. "[Marc-Andre] ter Stegen. His salary is high and will increase even more next season. He is currently on €17m net.

"The board has in mind to activate this option which whilst releasing an important player that coach Xavi likes, would also put a lot of money back into the pot."

Ter Stegen has been Barcelona's first-choice goalkeeper since 2014 and still has a contract at Camp Nou which runs until June 2025. He kept 15 clean sheets in all competitions last season and might not be easy to replace in sporting terms.

Fulham are set to pounce for Ter Stegen's understudy Neto if their bid for Arsenal's Bernd Leno is unsuccessful, leaving the inexperienced Inaki Pena as Barca's first-choice should both players leave.