Barcelona chief rubs salt in Man Utd wounds with fresh Frenkie de Jong sale admission

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has once again brought up the situation of midfielder Frenkie de Jong, confirming that the Manchester United target was the subject of a major bid in summer 2022 but that this was rejected.

Soon after his arrival at Man Utd, manager Erik ten Hag told the club’s hierarchy De Jong was his ideal signing to build the midfield around. This saw Man Utd chase De Jong for several months.

In July 2022, the Red Devils reached an agreement with Barca for the Dutchman’s capture. However, De Jong had no intention of leaving Barca and he refused to enter contract discussions with Man Utd.

This saw Man Utd’s agreement for the player expire. De Jong ended up staying at Barca, while Man Utd went on to spend £70million when signing Casemiro from Real Madrid. Since then, Ten Hag has also bolstered his midfield ranks with the arrivals of Mason Mount and Sofyan Amrabat.

However, Man Utd’s problems in midfield have continued, with Casemiro becoming stretched at times. The likes of Mount and Bruno Fernandes have been accused of not giving him enough help defensively.

Whenever Man Utd get overrun in midfield, some Man Utd supporters will be thinking how De Jong could have prevented such issues. The La Liga star could have formed a strong midfield partnership with Casemiro under Ten Hag.

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During a recent media appearance, Laporta has ridiculed Man Utd by stating that Barca had the chance to sell De Jong for €100m (£87m), but they opted to keep the 26-year-old as he is a ‘key player’ for Xavi.

“We had the opportunity to sell Frenkie de Jong for €100m,” Laporta said (via Fabrizio Romano).

Man Utd target a ‘key player’ for Barcelona

“We didn’t want to accept the proposal in order not to lose part of our capacity as Frenkie is [a] key player.”

De Jong’s decision to reject Man Utd was justified last season when Barcelona won the La Liga title. Man Utd did win the Carabao Cup last term, but they only managed to finish third in the Premier League, while also losing in the FA Cup final to rivals Manchester City.

Ten Hag will be hoping Man Utd are more successful in some of their other transfer pursuits next year. The manager is ‘desperate’ to bring a rising Milan star to England, according to reports.