Man Utd agree £63m deal to sign Frenkie de Jong

Manchester United have reached a ‘full agreement’ with Barcelona over an initial £63.4m deal to sign midfielder Frenkie de Jong, according to Fabrizio Romano.

New United boss Erik ten Hag is desperate to strengthen his midfield options after losing Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic this summer. Both players walked away on free transfer following the expiration of their contracts.

Ten Hag has identified de Jong as his first choice target as the former Ajax coach wants to build his new-look side around the Dutchman but negotiations with Barcelona have proved to be extremely difficult.

After a fresh round of negotiations, Fabrizio Romano claims that Manchester United have finally reached a ‘full agreement’ with Barcelona to sign de Jong for an initial £63.4m [€75m]. A further £8.4m could be due in add-ons making the entire deal worth up to £71.8m [€85m].

However, Man Utd still have plenty of work left to do as they have to convince the 25-year-old to complete his proposed move to Old Trafford as de Jong’s preference is to remain at Barcelona.

Romano says personal terms remain an issue to be resolved. Barcelona owe the midfielder around £17m in deferred wages, which is proving to be a major stumbling block.

Barcelona have serious financial issues and it appears they are willing to sacrifice de Jong to help balance the books as boss Xavi looks to land key targets such as Raphina, Robert Lewandowski and Bernardo Silva.

Wage issue

Man Utd are now a step closer to signing the Dutch international after agreeing a deal with the Catalans, however, de Jong’s deferred wages are causing a severe hold-up in the proposed move.

The player is understandably not willing to give up the £17m he is owed by Barca and appears to be telling the La Liga giants he’s happy to remain at the club.

However, this may just be a negotiating tactic to force them into a deal on his wages as there is no way United would waste so much time chasing de Jong without knowing for sure he was happy to join the club. Ten Hag knows the player well from their time together at Ajax and they’ll have spoken numerous times throughout this saga.

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Now that a deal has been agreed between the two clubs, the focus will be on de Jong agreeing a settlement with Barca on his wages and then his move to Man Utd should be wrapped-up swiftly.