Frenkie de Jong has done everything possible to stay at Barcelona. He made it known publicly that he wants to stay in Spain, but it seems that the idea of the officials is to make money with his sale. Joan Laporta, Barcelona's president, said: "We will do what is best for the club. Frenkie is a coveted player in the market, and we have received offers. The priority is the club's economy”.

Louis van Gaal, Netherlands coach, agreed with the 112,500,000 euros value placed on the 25-year-old midfielder by CIES, his justification being that he brings extra quality to the national team. The truth is that the bad economic moment that Barcelona is going through has made several clubs have tried to sign De Jong.

The teams that always stood out in the fight for the Dutchman were Manchester City and Manchester United. Pep Guardiola has already tried to sign De Jong in 2019, and the Citizens playing in the 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League could be a great temptation for the midfielder, plus it was said that City were willing to offer €75 million, but the offer never came, and now Manchester United have taken the pole position.

Manchester United send offer to Barcelona for Frenkie de Jong

Since Manchester United confirmed Erik ten Hag as their new first-team coach, rumors that the Red Devils were interested in signing De Jong began to swirl. But the player was always against the move, and it was said that one of the main reasons was that United will not play the 2022-2023 UCL.

But as Laporta said, at the moment, it is in Barcelona's interest to accommodate their finances. According to Marca, Manchester United have sent the Spanish team an offer of 60 million euros plus 20 million in bonuses for De Jong, which is said to have been warmly received by the Cules.

United's offer would allow Barcelona to rid themselves of De Jong's remaining 40 million in wages while allowing them to make a profit of about 50 million. Though Barca are confident they can get an even bigger fee from United.

According to Transfermarkt, in 2019, The Cules paid €86,000,000 to Ajax for the Dutch midfielder. In this context, if Manchester United finally manage to sign De Jong for 80,000,000 euros, it would be the second most expensive sale in Barcelona's history. The first place is taken by Neymar's transfer to PSG in 2017 for €222,000,000, and currently in second place is Arthur's transfer to Juventus for 72,000,000 euros.