Christian Eriksen will be the odd man out if Manchester United can finally get a deal for Frenkie de Jong over the line.
That’s the view of Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy, who can see the Dane becoming a squad player should Erik ten Hag land his top target. The Red Devils spent much of last summer trying to agree a deal for the Dutch midfielder, who was earmarked as a priority signing for the new United boss.
However, despite months of negotiating and Barcelona appearing open to selling, De Jong remained at the Camp Nou. The 25-year-old was determined to fight for his place with the LaLiga giants, with his stance vindicated since becoming a regular under Xavi.
That hasn’t stopped speculation though, with the Blaugrana still in a financial hole and needing to raise £178million before they are able to sign any players. De Jong appears to be one of the club’s most saleable assets with a host of Premier League clubs still interested.
United will be one of those, even after signing Eriksen in response to their failure to get De Jong. Eriksen was an impressive performer for Ten Hag’s side before he picked up a serious injury, but Murphy has warned he would be the player to make way for the Barca star.
“Barcelona have got to sell some players. They need to recoup over £100m and De Jong would get them a big chunk of that if they let him go,” Murphy said on the FIVE YouTube channel.
“In effect, De Jong would play where Christian Eriksen is playing alongside Casemiro and Eriksen would be used more of a squad player.”
“That’s probably why they went for Eriksen when they didn’t get De Jong because they’re both creative. De Jong is more athletic and a bit better at receiving the ball but they are similar.
“Frenkie de Jong is a super talent and he would be a big, big addition for them. It would be a really big addition for Manchester United.”
Spanish news outlet SPORT insist that Barcelona intend to reject any bids for the midfielder. But that resolve could be tested after they were effectively placed under a transfer embargo by LaLiga chief Javier Tebas.
Speaking at the Financial Times’ Business of Football summit in London on Thursday, Tebas revealed that unless Barca can recoup £178m in transfer fees, they will be banned altogether from bringing in any players.
“As of today, Barcelona doesn’t have any room in its budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window,” Tebas stated. "Barcelona has been involved in questionable behaviour which has had an impact on La Liga and we are acting accordingly. We have ruled that they can no longer sign more players.
“In the case of Barcelona, they have to drop from spending on wages and transfers from €650m to €450m, so it’s a budget of minus €200m. They have to reduce their investment in players and we have encouraged them to sell players because, for every amount they raise in sales, they can spend 40 per cent of that.”
