Frenkie de Jong has become a real obsession for Manchester United. Since the arrival of Erik ten Hag to the Old Trafford bench in 2022, the 'Red Devils' board has tried, without success, to convince Arkel to leave FC Barcelona, although the culés have shown interest in negotiating his transfer during the last summer markets. Despite the 'pumpkins' received by 'Man U', the club does not give up in its desire to sign the midfielder and everything indicates that there will be a final effort on its part in 2025.
According to the latest information from England, United will return to the fray for Barça's '21' in January, as long as the Barça team expresses its intention to listen to offers. De Jong has a contract until June 2026 and his salary is one of the highest in the squad. Although the board has his renewal among the pending folders for the coming months, the possibility of making cash with his transfer is still on the table, since it would be an operation for more than 50 million euros.
United's last resort to convince Frenkie in January
In this sense, Manchester intends to take advantage of two key factors to finally convince Frenkie to go to England. The first has been well known for a long time: taking advantage of Barça's financial needs. Beyond the millions that the club will receive from his new contract with Nike and how close it is to returning to the 1/1 rule for signing (according to Joan Laporta, only 35 million are needed to square the 'Fair Play'), the Catalans still have problems with their wage bill and the departure of the Dutch international would be of great help to continue reducing the cost of the squad.
In addition, the operation would be closed for a very interesting amount (around 60-70M€), regardless of the physical problems that the 27-year-old footballer has been dragging. On the other hand, United would try to 'tie' the '21' culé by convincing him to recover the prominence that, perhaps, he will lose in the coming months with Barça. Hansi Flick is counting on Frenkie as an important piece for the rest of the season, but Marc Casadó's good form and his prolonged inactivity could play against the Arkel native.
And the fact is that, since his arrival in Catalunya in 2019, De Jong has always been undisputed for the Barça coaches when he has been at 100%. However, if Flick keeps Casadó as the first option in terms of defensive midfielders, the player may change his mind regarding his intention to stay as long as possible in Barcelona. Thus, the 'Man U' have a clear roadmap to carry out their final offensive for the former Ajax midfielder, a piece that Ten Hag has not managed to find in his cycle with the 'red devils' despite the club's millionaire investment in reinforcements.