Frenkie de Jong and Barcelona to renegotiate salary
FT Desk
- 24 Sept 2022 15:05 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United's hopes of finally signing Frenkie de Jong next summer have suffered another blow with the Dutch midfielder set to enter into negotiations with Barcelona over a new contract.
Erik ten Hag made De Jong his top transfer target after succeeding Ralf Rangnick as Man Utd manager in May, the pair having won the Dutch domestic double together with at Ajax in 2019.
But De Jong wouldn't budge. He had described Barcelona as his "dream club" on arrival and was reportedly still owed €17 million in deferred wages by the debt-ridden Catalan giants.
Man Utd's Frenkie de Jong scoring for Barcelona 😉pic.twitter.com/FcCqI3ZRyV
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 25, 2022
United instead paid €80m for Real Madrid's Casemiro, and they have turned things around in recent weeks, winning four consecutive Premier League games which have included victory over Liverpool and Arsenal.
But the Red Devils are understood to still be keeping tabs on De Jong's situation at Barca, which means the latest news coming out of Catalonia will be anathema to them.
De Jong and Laporta set for talks
According to Spain's premier radio network Cadena SER, De Jong is ready to renegotiate terms on a contract which currently runs until 30 June 2026.
"De Jong's contract won't be denounced," SER journalist Adria Soldevila posted on Twitter. "Barca are clear that they won't enter into a legal dispute. At the end of the year they will sit down to negotiate a salary adjustment.
"It's the pact that De Jong and [Joan] Laporta reached: he stays, but is adapting to the [financial] situation."
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De Jong will reportedly earn €37.5m this year, which is the second-most La Liga-wide after veteran centre-back Gerard Pique.
De Jong has featured in eight games in all competitions for Barca this season, helping them to second behind Spanish and European champions Real Madrid in La Liga and second in the Champions League group, behind Bayern Munich but above Inter Milan and Viktoria Plzen.
