Barcelona have named Frenkie de Jong in their pre-season tour squad of the United States with Manchester United into a tenth week of discussions to sign the midfielder.
New United manager Erik ten Hag has identified De Jong, 25, as his priority target and United are persisting with a player who has publicly expressed his desire to stay at Barcelona.
United reached a broad agreement for a fee with Barcelona more than two weeks ago and have not ended their pursuit. Barcelona play four games in the States, with their final fixture against New York Red Bulls on July 30.
Also read: United squad strategy in transfer market has improved under Ten Hag
De Jong said "I prefer to stay" in May and described Barcelona as his "dream club" last month. United sources insist they are targeting players who want to play for the club.
United figures claim to have fall-back targets should a move for De Jong collapse but they first contacted Barcelona about the Netherlands international on May 11 and the possible collapse would be embarrassing.
The United chief executive Richard Arnold and football director John Murtough were in Barcelona on Monday to meet the club's officials before travelling to Amsterdam to finalise the £46million signing of Lisandro Martinez.
United midfielder Scott McTominay was asked about the possibility of De Jong joining the club after the 4-1 friendly win over Melbourne Victory on Friday night.
“I've got no comments on new players who are coming in," he shrugged. "There's going to be maybe four, five, six other guys who come into the football club, so I can't comment on who's coming in or what personnel is coming. It's not my business to do that.
“I know that whatever lads come in we’ll absolutely give our best to make sure that they feel welcome and obviously it’ll help us push towards being a better team, which I'm sure they will do.”
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