Frenkie de Jong to Man Utd or Chelsea in January: The state of play

FT Desk

• 6 Sept 2022 10:15 BST
• 3 min read

Frenkie de Jong’s future at Barcelona is again being questioned amid reports he could still leave this season during the January transfer window.

Barcelona attempted to sell De Jong all summer, having been in negotiations with first Manchester United and then Chelsea.

The Blaugrana made it clear to De Jong that if he refused a move away from the club then he will have to reduce his salary in order to remain.

However, De Jong refused to even entertain the idea of joining Man Utd given they are not in the Champions League, while he also turned down the move to Chelsea.

The 25-year-old was only interested in staying at Barcelona, but reports in Spain claim that he could still leave in January as he is currently a squad player at Camp Nou.

He has started just one match so far this season, while even in pre-season he was often used as a centre-back rather than in his normal central midfield role.

Transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano has given an update on whether De Jong could move in January.

Will De Jong leave in January?

“So far the situation is totally quiet. Frenkie wanted to stay at Barca and therefore there are no immediate updates,” Romano explained on CaughtOffside.

“Certainly Man United and Chelsea will monitor the situation but they know that De Jong only wanted Barca with great clarity all summer. It will take months before we understand the next developments.

“He’s happy with life in Barcelona, his girlfriend is happy there. He made it clear he wanted to stay.

“United were just hoping that Frenkie would change his mind. Sometimes to sign top players you need to be patient, to wait and see if Frenkie was going to change his mind. But it never happened, and this is why they decided to invest big money on Casemiro.”

De Jong angry at Barcelona

An added problem for Barcelona in their attempts to sell De Jong is the financial standoff they have with the Dutchman.

De Jong is refusing to reduce his salary, with reports recently that Barcelona have even threatened legal action if he doesn’t do so.

The 25-year-old is also said to be angry that Barcelona are refusing to pay him €18 million in wages he is owed after he agreed to defer them to help the club through their post-Coronavirus financial crisis.

Unless this disagreement over owed money is resolved, it will be difficult to see De Jong accepting a move away.