Frenkie de Jong, a headache for Barça
Frenkie de Jong, during the recent friendly played by Barça against Real Madrid in Las Vegas. /
Market
The sale of the Dutchman is essential to register the new signings, but the player is not willing to leave
Frenkie de Jong has become Barcelona's big headache in this transfer market. The sale of the Dutch footballer seemed like a crucial operation for the future of the entity and for the registration of new signings, but as the weeks have gone by his departure has been blocked by the will of the Dutch player, entrenched in continuing in the ranks of the culé team. The possible operation with clubs like Chelsea, Manchester United or Bayern Munich is currently at a standstill and their situation is already worrying in a Blaugrana entity that is beginning to see how the countdown runs until the start of the League.
«The issue of 'fair play' forces players to leave. Frenkie is an important player for us, we fully count on him and the story ends here. Those who come out will be one or the other," Mateu Alemany, Barça's director of football, limited himself to commenting during Raphinha's presentation. His words, enigmatic, respond to a recurring question in every act of Barça in the last month. The Barça team needs to free up salary mass and Frenkie de Jong is the main candidate to abandon ship given his high salaries and the loss of weight in the plans that Xavi Hernández has for the midfield for the season that starts in weeks.
Mateu Alemany's words are those of a football director who is currently at a crossroads. Barça needs to sell De Jong, but has found in the player's rejection a block that is difficult to get out of. The former Ajax midfielder does not want to leave and is not willing to accept a salary cut in a summer in which the club has made large outlays on transfers. All this puts in check any negotiation both in the arrivals and departures section and has the club chaired by Joan Laporta in a wait, with nuances, waiting for the Dutchman to resolve his future.
Frenkie de Jong's position is what has already made several clubs back down in the negotiation for a possible transfer. At the gates of Barça, Manchester United called more insistently than anyone else, who, led by Erik ten Hag, offered him a project to be the protagonist with the coach who got the most revenue from him. The agreement between clubs was total, but De Jong ruled out the option of the 'red devils' for not playing in the Champions League and frustrated the first option culé in the market. He was also offered to Bayern Munich, a team that rejected the contract due to its high cost, and to Chelsea. The 'blue' option, the one that the player sees with the best eyes at the moment, has two economic cons. The Londoners are not willing to reach the 80 million euros that Barcelona demands and not the 14 million euros that the Dutchman currently receives, so all parties should make an effort to reach a midpoint or lower their claims.
Xavi tightens the rope
Given this situation, Xavi has opted for a middle way. The Catalan coach still thinks that Frenkie de Jong is a player he can take advantage of, but he is aware of the economic situation the club is going through and the effort that has been made to incorporate new signings. Knowing this, Xavi has decided not to remove the former Ajax player from the group dynamics, although he has placed him in a role in which the footballer is not entirely comfortable, as a substitute central defender.
In that demarcation, De Jong has been seen in the matches of the North American tour that the team has played against Real Madrid and Juventus. In both games the Dutchman has been a substitute and has come on in the second half to accompany Eric García, Piqué or Christensen in defense, a role that he has already practiced on emergency occasions and a new measure of pressure with which Barça hopes accelerate an exit that is acting as a stopper for the registration of new hires. If De Jong doesn't leave, the Blaugrana could have a big problem.
