Barcelona’s deadline for Man Utd to sign De Jong
Daniel Edwards
- Updated: 2 Aug 2022 15:54 BST
- 3 min read
Barcelona have issued Manchester United a final date before they will have to call off their pursuit of Frenkie de Jong.
The Netherlands midfielder has been a target at Old Trafford for most of the summer, with manager Erik ten Hag keen to orchestrate a reunion with his ex-Ajax charge.
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Negotiations have proven difficult, however, with little headway being made to close a deal.
While Barca are willing to sell, in order to ease their huge salary commitments, De Jong is a different story.
The player is unconvinced over the benefits of a move to Old Trafford at this point, with United out of the Champions League for 2022-23 and something of an unknown quantity under their new boss.
A race against time
If any transfer is to finally take place, United will have to step up their efforts in the next 10 days or risk losing their target.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has set a strict deadline after which no more transfers will be considered.
"We are doing everything possible to register the signings. We have to do it before August 13," the chief explained, while affirming that he was "optimistic" that La Liga would accept Barca's new signings for the coming season.
Barca hope to register Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde in time for the new campaign, after exercising various economic 'levers' in order to free up new funds.
The club would nevertheless welcome the injection of funds that De Jong would bring in, plus the removal of his salary burden would help in registering the new signings - or even bringing more in, as Laporta hinted.
"We will see what happens," he added to reporters, amid reports that Manchester City star Bernardo Silva is the latest player to be targeted by the Catalans.
