
FC Barcelona wants to do everything possible to keep Frenkie de Jong
According to FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta, Barcelona will do "everything" to keep Frenkie De Jong. The Dutch midfielder has attracted strong interest from Manchester United. "Frenkie is among the best players in the world. We know that clubs want him, not just United, but we are not planning on selling him," Laporta said, who did tell Spanish media that De Jong would have to accept a lower salary if he wants to stay at the Camp Nou.
De Jong (25) made it clear during last month's international break with the Netherlands national team that he would like to stay in Barcelona. The Catalan club, however, has to sell players before being able to conduct any business in the transfer window. De Jong, who has a contract for four more years at Camp Nou, is one of the players with the highest transfer value in the squad. The Spanish club paid 75 million euros three years ago to sign away the midfielder from Ajax.
"I'm under the impression that he wants to stay, Frenkie is happy at Barça, and I am going to do everything in my power to ensure that he stays," said Laporta, who did add that De Jong's salary will have to go down." We will speak about that. The salary level of some players does not fit the level that the current board has decided." Several Barcelona players have lowered their wages in the last year to help the club comply with the salary cap that the Spanish league La Liga has introduced.
Manager Erik ten Hag would like to bring De Jong to Manchester. According to the English media, the clubs agree on a transfer sum of around 80 million euros. Feyenoord left-back Tyrell Malacia is already poised to move to Man Utd, and ten Hag would also like to sign Lisandro Martinez and Antony from his old club Ajax.
Reporting by ANP