Manchester United report: Erik ten Hag sends message to board as Frenkie de Jong saga drags on
July 17, 2022
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is not willing to give up on the club’s ongoing pursuit of Frenkie de Jong, according to reports.
United (opens in new tab) have been tracking the Barcelona (opens in new tab) man for most of the summer, as Ten Hag looks to bolster his midfield ahead of the new season.
De Jong, who worked with Ten Hag during their time together at Ajax (opens in new tab), is the United manager’s top transfer target.
The Red Devils have agreed a deal with Barcelona for the transfer of the 25-year-old that would see them pay an initial £63m.
The package would also include add-ons worth a total of £8.5m, although these would be dependent on how De Jong performs at Old Trafford.
But the deal is complicated by the fact that Barcelona still owe De Jong around £17m in deferred salary payments.
The Netherlands international is reluctant to leave the Camp Nou until he receives a guarantee about the money he is due.
And De Jong’s preference is to stay at Barcelona anyway, with the midfielder believing he still has unfinished business with the team he joined in 2019.
The protracted saga has led some United fans to call for the club to abandon their pursuit of De Jong and turn their attention to other targets.
But Ten Hag is not willing to do that yet, according to a report in the Guardian (opens in new tab).
It states that the United manager has told football director John Murtough and CEO Richard Arnold to keep pushing for De Jong.
He wants his superiors to continue working on a deal even if the midfielder has not arrived in Manchester by the time United begin the Premier League campaign against Brighton (opens in new tab) on August 7.
In better news, the Red Devils have completed the signing of Christian Eriksen and are expected to confirm the arrival of Lisandro Martinez from Ajax in the coming days.