Mega-money Man Utd links to top Barcelona star prompt Fabrizio Romano to reveal January transfer truths

Claims that Manchester United are planning a fresh January move for long-term target Frenkie de Jong have seen Fabrizio Romano issue an update on both the Barcelona star and the man he is seen as a replacement for, Casemiro.

The Red Devils invested heavily over the summer as Sir Jim Ratcliffe looked to revolutise his playing squad and catapult Manchester United back among the elite of English football, with Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Manuel Ugarte all signing on the dotted line.

But having spent close to £180m on the quartet, Ratcliffe very shrewdly looked to balance the books by offloading several big names of their own, with Scott McTominay, Mason Greenwood, Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Willy Kambwala, Hannibal Mejbri and Facundo Pellistri among those to be sold, while Jadon Sancho also departed Old Trafford to join Chelsea on an initial loan, on transfer deadline day.

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While their squad now looks lighter than it has for a long time, it is clear that they are still a long way from where Ratcliffe wants them to be and a heavy 3-0 defeat to arch-rivals Liverpool in their last game before the international break illustrated just how big a gap it remains between themselves and the very top sides.

One player who struggled badly in that game was Casemiro, with the £70m signing from Real Madrid in 2022 making two high-profile mistakes in the match which directly led to goals for Arne Slot’s side.

The 75-times capped Brazil midfielder has since been linked with a move to Galatasaray, and while United seemingly agreed a deal with the Turkish side over a season’s loan, Casemiro was reported to have put the brakes on the deal.

Man Utd transfers: Romano discusses links to De Jong

Romano has since claimed that Casemiro, whose deal at Old Trafford is not due to expire until 2026, has no plans to leave Old Trafford before summer 2025 at the earliest.

And the journalist posted on X, formerly Twitter, last week: “Casemiro, currently expected to stay at Man United at least until 2025 despite links with Galatasaray move.

“Brazilian midfielder not planning to leave the club now, no concrete talks taking place with Gala.”

Despie that, the arrival of Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain will place Casemiro’s immediate future at the club in some jeopardy and it may well be that the 32-year-old ends up playing second fiddle to the Uruguay midfielder destroyer and the ever-impressive teenage star Kobbie Mainoo.

And amid fresh claims Ratcliffe and manager Erik ten Hag will make a fresh push to sign De Jong from Barcelona as his replacement, Romano has delivered another update on the transfer rumblings.

“We once again this summer had many stories about Frenkie de Jong’s future at Barcelona, and there were new links with Manchester United, as we’ve so often seen before,” Romano wrote for Caught Offside.

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“The latest we’ve heard is that Man United made some contact with De Jong during a moment when they weren’t so sure if the Manuel Ugarte deal was going to happen. However, I can tell you that this summer, the reality is that there was absolutely nothing.

“There was zero between De Jong and Man United, because the reality is that De Jong never wanted to leave Barcelona. De Jong is fully focused on Barcelona, and it’s also important to note that he’s too expensive for Man United – his salary is very high and so it was something impossible for United this summer.

“We’ll see what happens in the future, but this summer it was also the case that United wanted a different kind of midfielder anyway, more of a defensive midfielder than De Jong. Ugarte was the only option, their top target, and so there was never any possibility to go for De Jong – between United, Ten Hag, De Jong, the player’s agents, there was absolutely zero.”