The ongoing saga surrounding Frenkie de Jong took a fresh twist on Wednesday afternoon when pictures emerged of his agent preparing for a meeting with Barcelona's hierarchy.
The midfielder is wanted by Manchester United and has been their number one target for months. United's new boss Erik ten Hag worked with De Jong when the pair were at Ajax and is keen on a reunion in Manchester.
But with barely three weeks of the transfer window remaining there is still no end in sight. To further complicate matters, the Dutch international, who is Barca's highest earning player, is also owed an additional €17million in unpaid wages. The problem for the club is that they are currently unable to process such payments, which has complicated the player’s future. Resolving this issue has been central to recent meetings.
Now, pictures have been posted on social media showing De Jong's representatives Ali Dursun and Hasan Centikaya arriving in Spain on Wednesday afternoon for what have been classed as discussions regarding his client's future.
Additionally, respected Dutch journalist Marcel van der Kraan says of De Jong: “No matter what Frenkie says at Barcelona, they (Man Utd) have a deal with the agent of the player. It just depends on what is happening at the political department of Barcelona over his wages which they still owe him."
De Jong was one of four players to pen new contracts in October 2020, all of which were sanctioned by the club's previous board before they resigned weeks later en masse. Barcelona are reportedly considering taking legal action over De Jong's contract.
Will De Jong be a Man United player by the close of the window? Let us know here
The stand-off is doing United no favours whatsoever, as their struggles in the transfer market continue. Despite being close to a deal for Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot, Ten Hag still wants De Jong and at least one more striker. A proposed deal for Marko Arnautovic, formerly of Stoke City and West Ham, was kaiboshed by the United hierarchy after a fierce backlash from former players and the club's fanbase.
Other names to have been linked with moves include Atletico Madrid's Alvaro Morata and PSV's Cody Gakpo.
For Ten Hag, the need for fresh blood was evident in their opening Premier League game last weekend. They lost 2-1 at home to Brighton and despite the presence of a new manager and a sprinkling of new faces, it was very much the same old United.
Speaking post-match, Ten Hag reflected: ""It wasn't the defending, we defend as a team, making pass mistakes unnecessarily in midfield and they take over. There we needed better organisation, we give appointments and they have to do the job that you get appointed to.
"That's not what we did and we then got punished. Same with the second goal, totally unnecessary. It was a ball that lose in the corner on the other side, so it's not good that you concede a goal. We have to deal with this setback. Learn from the mistakes and go forward."
