Barcelona director of football Mateu Alemany has stated that the club could be forced to sell Frenkie de Jong due to Financial Fair Play rules, whilst club president Joan Laporta has been quoted as saying that this is not the case.
Manchester United have agreed terms with Barcelona for De Jong, as previously reported by the Manchester Evening News - but there remains work to be done if the Netherlands international is to link up with Erik ten Hag once again.
De Jong is understood to be owed a substantial amount in deferred wages by cash-strapped Barcelona and the Dutchman will need convincing to leave the La Liga giants.
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On Friday, two Barcelona chiefs spoke out on the De Jong situation and they appeared to disagree with each other. Alemany said: "Frenkie is a very important player. We totally count on him, but Fair Play forces us to sell players."
However, Laporta quickly rebuffed the claim. He said: "It’s not true that we are forced to sell Frenkie de Jong, this is not correct. Frenkie’s trip to the United States will be decided by Xavi."
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