Frenkie de Jong has finally spoken out about Manchester United’s strong interest this summer.
United’s number one target told NOS:
Frenkie de Jong confirms to @NOS: “Interest in Chelsea and Man United? I already decided in May that I wanted to stay at Barcelona”. ???????????? #FCB
“I never changed this decision over the summer,” Frenkie added. pic.twitter.com/WoxthKiKWU
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 21, 2022
Frenkie de Jong: “I always wanted to stay at Barcelona this summer… and that’s why I always stayed calm in the summer”. ???????? #FCB
“The club has its own ideas and I have mine, sometimes this collides with each other. But things went well.” @TheEuropeanLad pic.twitter.com/ItWVGuYsXD
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 21, 2022
“Interest from Chelsea and Manchester United? I already decided in May that I wanted to stay in Barcelona”.
“I never changed this decision over the summer.”
“I always wanted to stay at Barcelona this summer… and that’s why I always stayed calm in the summer.”
“The club has its own ideas and I have mine; sometimes, this collides with each other. But things went well.”
Erik ten Hag had made De Jong his main target of the summer, and United spent the entire window trying to broker a deal.
They agreed a transfer fee worth €85 million with Barcelona in July. The main obstacle to the agreement was the deferred salary that Barça owed the player.
In addition, De Jong always maintained a public position of wanting to stay in the club of his dreams.
Eventually a point came where United couldn’t wait any longer, so they opted to sign Casemiro from Real Madrid.
Ten Hag will be disappointed not to be able to land his first-choice signing, but will try to make do with alternatives.
It is not clear if United will try to sign him again this January or next summer.
