An ex-Liverpool player has advised Frenkie de Jong to turn his nose up at a move to Manchester United.
The midfielder has been linked with a reunion with Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford this summer. He played under the incoming United boss at Ajax before moving onto Barcelona following their journey to the semi-finals of the 2019 Champions League.
United are eager to buy central players this summer with the likes of Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba and Juan Mata all leaving next month. De Jong has been a constant figure in Xavi’s revival of Barcelona but the club may need to offload him amid their financial problems.
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Incoming United manager Ten Hag has identified De Jong, 25, as an ideal target, having coached him at Ajax and the Manchester Evening News understands United have contacted Barcelona about his potential availability.
This week, club president Joan Laporta inferred that the Spanish giants may need to sell some of their prize assets this summer. This could allow the opportunity for De Jong to push for a move to Manchester.
However, Steve McManaman has told De Jong he would be better off staying at Barcelona than making a move to United. ”Playing for Barcelona on the rise or Manchester United on the rise is a completely different thing when one’s playing in the Champions League and the other one isn’t,” he told HorseRacing.net.
“For him to go to Manchester United then I think they’d have to pay him more than he’s earning at Barcelona, which I think will be a really hard thing to do considering that he went to Barcelona for a huge amount of money.
“You’d rather stay at Barcelona in the Champions League with Xavi trying to change things around. Players like (Andreas) Christensen and (Robert) Lewandowski potentially coming in makes that a more exciting challenge in my opinion.”
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