Manchester United chief executive Richard Arnold and football director John Murtough are in Barcelona as the club attempt to finalise the signing of Frenkie de Jong.
Arnold and Murtough did not travel to Thailand for the first leg of United's pre-season tour and new manager Erik ten Hag has identified De Jong as his priority target.
It is understood Arnold and Murtough have met with Barcelona director of football Mateu Alemany, managing director Rafael Yuste and sporting adviser Jordi Cruyff. Sources in Spain have suggested Arnold and Murtough could meet De Jong as United approach a 10th week of discussions to sign the Netherlands international.
Also read: Ten Hag breaks silence on Ronaldo future
United agreed a €55million deal with Barcelona to sign De Jong two weeks ago but progress on the deal has been delayed by the wage deferral De Jong agreed to at Barcelona during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
De Jong's agent, Ali Dursun, was at United's Carrington training complex last week to oversee the signing of his client, Tyrell Malacia, and discussed De Jong with United's power-brokers.
Ten Hag was asked about United's progress on signings in Bangkok on Monday ahead of his first match in charge against Liverpool at the Rajamangala Stadium on Tuesday.
"We know what we want," Ten Hag said. "We not only want new players, we want the right new players, we have a good squad, there's huge potential, only when we find them is there an improvement in our squad we will do (business).
"My first press conference I already said definitely we are searching players in midfield, we have a need and also in offence, we are still looking for players.
"It's going to be a long season but a season that is quite unusual due to the World Cup so you need to be prepared for this and need more players than in a normal season.
"We want to add the right players. We have a really good squad, we are working to develop our way of playing and the opportunity is there and we will strike."
When asked about De Jong, he said: "I never talk about players who are not under contract of Man United, players from different clubs, so I cannot tell anything about this issue."
READ MORE:
