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Manchester United are likely to sign Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong, provided they are willing to improve their initial transfer offer by €10m, according to Sport (today’s edition, page 5).
The Red Devils’ opening bid of €60m plus add-ons was rejected by the Blaugrana earlier this month, and The Guardian recently claimed that an improved offer of €70m plus variables will be made.
Following up on that story, Sport claim that the Catalan giants are willing to negotiate on the fixed fee. They were looking for €75m upfront, but are now be prepared to accept around €70m from United.
However, they are likely to demand the remaining €5m in the form of add-ons. If an agreement is reached, it is claimed that De Jong could be available for the pre-season game against Liverpool on July 12.
Meanwhile, De Jong has yet to agree personal terms with United over a potential transfer, but it is reported that he is unlikely to force his stay at Barcelona if they decide to sanction his departure.
Our view:
United have been haggling over the price tag for De Jong over a number of weeks, and nothing seems to have changed with the difference in valuations between the clubs.
However, they have now been handed a potential boost with the Blaugrana willing to lower their fixed fee. United don’t want to overpay on players this summer, but a €10m difference should not act as a stumbling block.
The Red Devils are one of the richest clubs in the world, and they should show more ambition in the transfer market. Just yesterday, the Glazers and their shareholders took dividends of nearly €13m from the club.
The money could have quite easily gone into finalising the transfer of De Jong. Hence, the club don’t have any excuses to prolong negotiations for the Dutchman, and need to sort out the transfer fee at the earliest possibility.
De Jong was recently on Nations League duty with the Netherlands. If United sign him, he may only report for pre-season in the second week of July. At best, he could make a cameo against Liverpool in Thailand.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com
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