Barcelona despatched a letter to Frenkie de Jong in July warning the participant that the renewal contract he signed in 2020 underneath the earlier board had alleged irregularities, membership sources instructed ESPN.
When contacted by ESPN, sources near the participant stated the contract is authorized and declare the letter that Barca despatched was meant to place stress on the Netherlands midfielder to both settle for a transfer away from the Camp Nou or to simply accept a wage discount.
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At the moment the letter was despatched, Barca had reached a preliminary settlement with Manchester United for De Jong in a deal price a complete of €85 million and wanted the cash in an effort to register their new signings with out breaching LaLiga’s wage limits.
As for the potential for De Jong persevering with on the Camp Nou with a wage minimize, sources at Barcelona final weekend instructed ESPN that this was the popular selection of membership president Joan Laporta and coach Xavi Hernandez. Xavi believes the participant is necessary as a result of he can cowl totally different roles.
Ought to De Jong not agree to go away or scale back his wages, the identical membership sources wouldn’t rule out Barca telling the participant he’s surplus to necessities to extend the stress.
De Jong diminished his wages in October of 2020, underneath then president Josep Maria Bartomeu, deferring a part of his wage whereas extending his contract till June, 2026.
Barca’s present board believes there have been sure irregularities in that renewal, however on the identical time different gamers — Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet — additionally signed related offers to assist the membership with their liquidity issues.
Manchester United are the membership that has proven probably the most curiosity in De Jong to this point. Chelsea have additionally proven an curiosity within the participant, however haven’t made a proper provide.
As ESPN has reported, De Jong needs to proceed on the Camp Nou and has reiterated on a number of events that he doesn’t want to be part of a membership like Man United, who is not going to play within the Champions League this season.
Previous to Barcelona’s 6-0 win over Pumas within the Joan Gamper Trophy match on Sunday, Laporta stated: “[De Jong] is a Barca participant of nice high quality and we wish him to remain. With him and his teammates, we’ve got a really robust midfield. He has provides, however we wish him to remain and he needs to remain too.”
Barcelona have introduced within the likes of Raphinha, Jules Kounde and Robert Lewandowski for a reported complete of greater than €150m as they give the impression of being to rebuild the crew.
Laporta stated he anticipated extra transfers out and in of the membership earlier than the market closes on Aug. 31, with Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso strongly linked to the 26-time Spanish champions.
Info from Reuters was used on this story.
