Furious Barcelona fans chased Frenkie de Jong's car and yelled insults amid the continued stand-off between the midfielder and the Spanish giants.
The 25-year-old is wanted by Manchester United but plenty of uncertainty remains over whether that deal can be done amid the Dutchman's well-publicised unpaid wages claim against his employers. A video has now emerged on social media of Barca fans chasing his car as he drives on for training. In the clip the supporters can be heard yelling 'cut your salary, b****’
The episode comes amid not only interest by United but also reports that their Premier League rivals Chelsea have agreed a £67million fee for De Jong.
United though are resolute about their interest and remain committed to bringing him to Old Trafford, which would signal a reunion with his former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag. The unsavoury scenes of Barca fans hurling abuse at De Jong is likely to only intensify his desire to leave the Nou Camp amid an uncertain future.
Earlier in the day his representatives Ali Dursun and Hasan Centikaya were pictured arriving in Spain 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.
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.
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."
United return to Premier League action on Saturday when they travel to Brentford.
