Gary Neville has aimed a fresh dig at Barcelona over their treatment of Frenkie de Jong after the La Liga giants announced they had agreed a deal for Sevilla star Jules Kounde.
Barca are attempting to force De Jong to either accept a move away from the Camp Nou or take a substantial salary cut. So far, the Dutchman has resisted those efforts, to the frustration of both Barca and Manchester United, who are keen to sign the 25-year-old.
While they have insisted they cannot afford to keep De Jong, Barca have continued to make big-money moves in the transfer window. Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie have all arrived in Catalonia this summer, signings that appear to be at odds with the club's financial situation.
Kounde has now become the latest of those arrivals, with Barcelona confirming on Thursday that they had agreed a deal with Sevilla. They will pay £46million for the Frenchman, who will sign a five-year contract.
But after that news was confirmed, Neville took the opportunity to blast Barca for their actions towards De Jong. Quote-tweeting a post confirming Kounde's move, he wrote: "Does he know he doesn’t get paid his full wages if they want rid of him??"
Neville then doubled down after an Arsenal fan replied: "My guess Gary is that you wouldn't care about De Jong not getting paid if he wasn't linked with united." The United legend refuted those claims and instead branded Barca a "disgrace" for their treatment of De Jong.
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"I actually don’t care if he signs for United or not! However it has highlighted a situation I’ve always been passionate about which is employers/clubs taking the p*** out of workers/players and not paying them their due money! Barca are a disgrace to their great name!" Neville tweeted.
Neville's latest questioning of Barca's actions come after he called for De Jong to take legal action against the La Liga side earlier this week. The former Red Devils skipper questioned how Barca could continue to buy players at the same time they insist they cannot pay wages.
"De Jong should consider legal action v Barcelona and all players should be behind him! A club spending fortunes on new players whilst not paying the ones they have under contract their full money is immoral and a breach. @FIFPRO should be all over bullying like this and stop it," he said.
Neville is not the only one to be left angry by how Barca are handling De Jong's situation. The chairman of Dutch players' union VVCS, Evgeniy Levchenko, has also slammed the Spanish side.
"I think a union should protect all players. Now a player is cornered by a club and chased away. Then it is up to an international union to stand up. FC Barcelona will then invoke sporting grounds, but it is disastrous for the career of a young player," Levchenko told ANP.
"That makes it a kind of extortion. I would say 'no'. FC Barcelona has full responsibility. The club's long-term policy is dramatic. It is crazy when players have to pay for the financial mess."
