Manchester United and Barcelona are hopeful of reaching an agreement for the transfer of Frenkie de Jong as he prepares to return from holiday this week.
United are understood to have submitted an improved bid for De Jong, 25, last week and sources say it is a matter of "when, not if" the deal is finalised.
Protracted discussions between the clubs are still progressing, although weekend reports of an agreement are believed to be inaccurate. New United manager Erik ten Hag is pushing to secure De Jong, whom he developed at Ajax, as his first signing.
Also read: Ten Hag arrives at Carrington hours before United players
Spanish sources say Barcelona coach Xavi has explained the situation to De Jong, who was initially reluctant to leave his "dream club" but Ten Hag has assuaged his concerns about joining United.
Ten Hag is keen to sign De Jong in time for him to be included in United's pre-season tour squad of Thailand and Australia. United fly to Bangkok on July 8 and their first friendly is against Liverpool four days later.
United's first day of pre-season training is today and De Jong has been on holiday in Las Vegas, but club sources insist any prospective signings who were involved in the round of June international fixtures would not have trained with the club this week. The majority of United's international participants are due back on July 4.
United made an opening offer of €60million (£51.64m) including add-ons for De Jong that was rejected by Barca, who are unwilling to suffer a loss on a player they signed for £65m three years ago.
Barcelona privately concede they cannot obtain the outlandish €100m Spanish outlets have quoted as their valuation of De Jong when they are prepared to sell him. Barca are believed to want a guaranteed €75m (£64.55m), with add-ons to ensure De Jong's overall fee surpasses what they paid Ajax to sign him.
United sources say they are "negotiating hard" for a fair deal for De Jong as they believe that had they yielded to Barcelona's initial valuation it could have affected their capacity to strengthen other areas of the squad. Ten Hag also wants to sign Christian Eriksen, Ajax forward Antony, a centre-back and a back-up goalkeeper, with Daniel Bachmann of Watford under consideration.
United insist they have fall-back targets with a lower valuation than De Jong should they fail to prise the Dutchman from Barcelona but they are determined to sign Ten Hag's priority target.
The Manchester Evening News reported last month United approached Barcelona about De Jong on May 11 - the night Ajax secured the Eredivisie title. United football director John Murtough flew to Amsterdam the next day to meet Ten Hag and then attended additional recruitment meetings in London.
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