According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Manchester United and Barcelona have struck a deal on the acquisition of Frenkie de Jong.
“Manchester United have secured a comprehensive deal with Barcelona for Frenkie de Jong, after more discussions,” Romano tweeted this morning.
Package worth €85 million.
“The fee is certain to be about €75 million plus add-ons.”
“In personal terms, the problem remains unresolved, as Frenkie’s desire is to remain in Barcelona.”
While it was already known that the personal terms were the main stumbling block, the fact that the package had not been agreed between the clubs was also an issue that needed to be addressed.
Despite president Joan Laporta’s protests that he would do everything in his power to keep the player, Barcelona must sell to avoid falling foul of the law.
The 25-year-only old’s other choice is to drastically reduce his income, something he has told the club he is not willing to do.
Playing hardball with Barca, De Jong’s representatives are refusing to go and rejecting any wage reduction.
The player is prudent to expect the Catalans to pay up what they owe him before he agrees to go because they still owe him €17 million in back pay and significant compensation hikes are planned for the future under his contract.
It is still incomprehensible that his alleged resistance to depart was caused by something other than this problem and not by his true reluctance to join United.
His agent Ali Dursun has recently maintained consistent communication with the Red Devils.
Tyrell Malacia, Donny van de Beek, and Victor Lindelof are among his recent clients.
Furthermore, it has been alleged that United manager Erik ten Hag communicates with his former player on a daily basis.
United would not have progressed this far without being certain that the player is eager to join.
With the clubs’ entire agreement now in place, the onus is firmly on the player to negotiate a departure from Barcelona and a contract with United, who have allegedly set him a deadline of the end of the week to give his assent to the transfer