After Tenhag joined Manchester United, de Jong's departure rumors began to heat up. Now that Barca and team reporter Romero have come forward to confirm United's interest, the deal is likely to be already in the making.
Romero said Frankie De Jong was happy at Barca, but United manager Tenhag is very fond of the player next season and has made United see De Jong as their primary target for signing this summer. In addition, Romero also revealed that Manchester United are willing to offer Telles, Maguire or Rashford to join the deal as part of De Jong's transfer. Therefore, in the coming days, it is very likely that Barca and Manchester United will have transfer negotiations.
At the same time, Romero also said that Barca are interested in Erlanga and Scott McTominay, but United are willing to provide the above three people.
All transfers start with rumors, and once a deal is repeatedly reported by the media, and reporters like Romero are involved, it is enough to show that United's interest is not empty.
Over the past period, there have been a number of key moves at the top of Manchester United, with the departure of the chief scout and the head of global scouting, followed by matt Judge, who has been in charge of the signing negotiations for the past six years, and also announced his resignation. United will then invite Monaco's director of football, Paul Mitchell, as the club's technical director, and will also appoint a deputy director of football. The ultimate goal of this series of actions is to build a more professional and efficient reinforcement team to better help Manchester United complete the reconstruction work in the future transfer window.
And the core of all this work is, of course, following Tenhag's wishes, because all the team building work will revolve around his tactical play. United's primary reinforcement position this summer is midfield, and De Jong is undoubtedly his favourite target. The reason is actually very simple, many managers come to a new team to teach, often like to bring their former love will be around. Because these players already know his tactical style of play, they can play the role of "preacher" to help other players better understand the manager's tactical philosophy.
The midfield is the brain of the whole team, and De Jong can use his passing, running and consciousness to mobilize the team at both ends of the attack and defense. In addition, United also have an Ajax veteran van der Beek. The midfield partnership of De Jong and Van de Beek helped Ajax reach the Top 4 of the Champions League, and the tacit understanding between the two is still there, which can jointly support the team's midfield operation. Once the midfield is running smoothly, the stubborn problems that have plagued United for years of attacking confusion are also expected to be solved, which in turn will activate the entire team.
So is it possible for Barca to let De Jong go? Of course. De Jong's dream when playing for Barca, but sometimes the reality is harsh. After Xavi took office, De Jong was always the first player to be replaced, and there are exceptions. Once or twice may not be enough, but in the long run, even the best temper will explode.
For Barca, De Jong is certainly not a non-sale product. In Xavi's eyes, only players like Pedri are the pillars of the future, and even La Masia graduates like Garvey are more important than De Jong.
With Barca's current squad, it is clearly not enough to try to do too much next season. The small play method of free signing alone cannot make the team get an essential improvement, but Barca's economic difficulties determine that it is difficult for them to spend as much money as they did in the Bartomeu era. So the most realistic way is to sell players to raise money. So which player has the most value for sale? De Jong, without a doubt.
And Manchester United will not have too much money to bring in reinforcements, so it is obviously more realistic to join players as chips, which is the change after changing the reinforcement team. Whether it is Telles, Maguire or Rashford, all of them are players who can leave the team, which is also a significant change. If it was during the reign of Sandezi, it would be impossible for a youth prince like Rashford to send him away. And Maguire was introduced by the club for 80 million pounds, and it is obvious that the face of the chip to send away is obviously not hanging.
Although Tenhag has not yet taken office, work has already begun. For the new manager's first request for reinforcements, the United hierarchy will certainly go all out. Therefore, De Jong's hope of joining Manchester United is actually not small, let's wait and see.