Manchester United’s protracted pursuit of Frenkie de Jong is being held up by money owed to the Netherlands midfielder by Barcelona in wages he agreed to defer due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite Barcelona president Joan Laporta’s claims that De Jong is not for sale, United reached a broad agreement with the Catalan club last week over a fee for the Dutchman that would see them pay an initial €65 million (£55m) with around a further €20m (£17m) payable in add-ons.
However, United’s hopes of wrapping up a deal in time for De Jong to join the start of their summer tour have been complicated by deferred wages and bonuses the player is owed from Barcelona after he agreed to take a temporary pay cut to help ease the club’s financial difficulties during the Covid crisis.
De Jong joined Barcelona from Ajax on a five-year contract in 2019 on a fixed annual salary worth £12m but he agreed to reduce his salary by £9.4m in 2020/21 and by £4.3m last season meaning he is owed £13.7m in basic wages.
He is also believed to be owed another £3.4m in waived bonuses for playing in at least 60 per cent of Barcelona’s matches over the previous two seasons.
De Jong extended his contract at the Nou Camp by a further two years to 2026, which allowed Barcelona to spread the deferred payments over a longer period.
But De Jong’s prospective move to Old Trafford means Barcelona face the prospect of having to foot a bill in excess of £17m in wages owed to the player and has left new United manager Erik ten Hag facing an agonising wait to land his priority summer transfer target.
United are due to fly to Bangkok on Friday afternoon for the start of their pre-season tour but Tyrell Malacia, the Netherlands left back signed from Feyenoord for an initial £12.9m this week, could be the only new signing on the plane.
Free agent Christian Eriksen has agreed to join United on a three-year deal but the Denmark playmaker - who suffered a cardiac arrest at the Euros last summer - still needs to undergo a stringent medical before a deal can be finalised and faces a race to be involved in the Thailand leg of the tour. United are due to play Liverpool in Bangkok on Tuesday before flying to Melbourne and then later Perth.
United are hoping to reach a compromise with Ajax for Lisandro Martinez after having a £35m bid knocked back last week for the Argentina defender, who is also wanted by Arsenal and valued at around £45m.
But Martinez’s Ajax team-mate, Antony, fears he could be priced out of a move to Old Trafford with the Dutch club - who are eager to retain the Brazil forward for another season - holding out for almost £70 million, substantially more than United are prepared to pay.
There is thought to be some scepticism at Old Trafford that a deal for Antony is viable as things stand although the focus for the moment has been on beating Arsenal to Martinez, who, at just 5ft 9in tall, is very small for a centre-half, especially in the Premier League.
United’s squad were given a day off by Ten Hag on Wednesday. Old Trafford officials are still in the dark over whether Ronaldo - who wants to leave United this summer - will be on the flight to Bangkok after being granted extended leave for “family reasons”.
In a bizarre incident on Wednesday, United captain Harry Maguire appeared to “like” a post on Instagram which repeated a story that one of the reasons Ronaldo was unhappy at Old Trafford was due to having to take a pay cut following the club’s failure to qualify for the Champions League.
Tensions surfaced between Maguire and Ronaldo last season but sources at the club said the story had been “liked” purely by accident and that the England defender had no idea he had done it and subsequently deleted it.
Meanwhile, Jesse Lingard, who left United as a free agent last month and is being chased by Premier League clubs including West Ham and Everton, is set to travel to the United States to listen to pitches from Major League Soccer teams interested in signing the England forward.
Another player who left United as a free agent last month, Paul Pogba, has agreed a four-year deal with Juventus.
Barca are in a Royal mess. I cannot see a quick resolution to this unless Man U offer to pay FDJ directly. I think he'll be missing that plane.
I expect he'll be at OT before the start of the season.
An absolute shambles from Barcelona. They are genuinely on the brink of collapse. How on earth they thought all that stupid spending and wage bill wasnt going to come back and bite is anyone's guess.
One shambles of a club dealing with another. Results = Bigger shambles
They can't afford to pay him his owed wages or keep him either... Such a mess.
I reckon FDJ will eventually be at OT, but who knows what will happen inbetween. Just annoying it scuppers our pre-season plans due to incompetency (not on United's part for once).
Wonder how much they owe the rest of their squad in wages.
comment by Glazers Out (SE85) (U21241)
posted 46 seconds ago
An absolute shambles from Barcelona. They are genuinely on the brink of collapse. How on earth they thought all that stupid spending and wage bill wasnt going to come back and bite is anyone's guess.
One shambles of a club dealing with another. Results = Bigger shambles
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The issue here seems to be all Barcelona, not us.
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Glazers Out (SE85) (U21241)
posted 46 seconds ago
An absolute shambles from Barcelona. They are genuinely on the brink of collapse. How on earth they thought all that stupid spending and wage bill wasnt going to come back and bite is anyone's guess.
One shambles of a club dealing with another. Results = Bigger shambles
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The issue here seems to be all Barcelona, not us.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah true but we can't really say we haven't been a shambles for 10 years can we? We've spent over a billion quid and not even got better. 😂
Barca have top trumped us in the shambles stakes but we still have a lot of mess to sort ourselves.
comment by Vladimikel Artutin - committing war crimes against football since 2019 (U18355)
posted 1 minute ago
Wonder how much they owe the rest of their squad in wages.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
well, Pique reduced his salary from around £15m to about £2-3m a couple of years ago. So they owe him a fortune. Pretty much all the older players took big cuts I think.
All these cuts are doing though are allowing Barca to offer contracts to new players rather than cut their debts.
All these cuts are doing though are allowing Barca to offer contracts to new players rather than cut their debts.
_____________
They're still after Raphina aren't they? What a club
Barca owe a single player nearly £15m yet have their puppet journos telling everyone they can afford to go and sign Lewandowski, Raphinha, Bernardo Silva, etc. 😂
Joke club
Apparently Bayern have said to them that they must pay for Lewa cash upfront as they are concerned they won't exist in two years time. 😂😂😂
comment by Randomer (U5245)
posted 4 minutes ago
Barca owe a single player nearly £15m yet have their puppet journos telling everyone they can afford to go and sign Lewandowski, Raphinha, Bernardo Silva, etc. 😂
Joke club
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You’d think they’d want to sort out their own problems before with the players they currently have before bringing in new ones. Its bizarre the way they operate in the transfer market.
Yeah true but we can't really say we haven't been a shambles for 10 years can we?
….
No one has. So it seems rather daft doing so when it clearly isn’t.
It is a shame La Liga does not treat Barcelona like Derby have been treated. Ban them from signing players until they get their finances in order and dock them points when they don’t comply.
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 6 minutes ago
It is a shame La Liga does not treat Barcelona like Derby have been treated. Ban them from signing players until they get their finances in order and dock them points when they don’t comply.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This
Double edged sword really. Sign the player on a contract. Beg him to take a 80% paycut cos neglect on the club's part. Then target new players to try and recapture success.
If I was a player I'd want reinforcements to try and win trophies but I wouldn't want it to undermine my chances of ever seeing my money. And new signings aren't joining on 20k a week so I'd question why they deserve it more than those already signed.
Footballers may be over paid but that his hardly justified grounds for the club using the savings to repeat the same mistakes. Fact they sold future income/revenue streams means they are really in trouble long term unless they recapture success quickly.
It's almost like the super league needs to happen or they will crumble. League should step in 100%. They did before but it just motivates Barca to find loopholes without actually fixing the problem. It's a joke.
I think city and psg are a joke but how barca and large ligament can throw shade at them is a pi55take tbh
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 18 minutes ago
Yeah true but we can't really say we haven't been a shambles for 10 years can we?
….
No one has. So it seems rather daft doing so when it clearly isn’t.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You don't half look for controversy where there is none. It was a throwaway comment.
We have been a shambles. A massive shambles. Sometimes it feels good to say it. Let's leave it at that.
It’s crazy what’s happening to Barca right now and how public Laporta is being with everything even though it only makes him and the club look like total sccumbags.
I get that they’re a huge club but why do players like Lewandowski want to join them right now? On top of that they made their signings of Kessie and Christensen official the other day but still can’t actually register them.
Bayern even joked they want all the money for any purchase of Lewa straight away as Barca might not even be around in a couple years.
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
comment by Glazers Out (SE85) (U21241)
posted 23 minutes ago
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 18 minutes ago
Yeah true but we can't really say we haven't been a shambles for 10 years can we?
….
No one has. So it seems rather daft doing so when it clearly isn’t.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You don't half look for controversy where there is none. It was a throwaway comment.
We have been a shambles. A massive shambles. Sometimes it feels good to say it. Let's leave it at that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to keep sounding like Nohlman then fine.
How did Barca come to this? How far back does it go?
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 3 minutes ago
How did Barca come to this? How far back does it go?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Goes back quite far, Josep Bartomeu who left in 2020 started this mess. Pandemic hasn't helped, paying Messi obscene wages too.
Could go back to them paying 100mil+ for Coutinho, Griezmann, Dembele over 2/3 years and all 3 have flopped. Probably since 2016-17 it had accelerated and got worse with this signings.
comment by United we win (U19958)
posted 18 minutes ago
Barca will be fine as la liga can’t afford for them to collapse. I see a bailout happening at some point
----------------------------------------------------------------------
a bail out, from where ?
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 57 minutes ago
It is a shame La Liga does not treat Barcelona like Derby have been treated. Ban them from signing players until they get their finances in order and dock them points when they don’t comply.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It could be a blessing in disguise for Barca. Sure they'll be in the 2nd tier and their brand will suffer. One of the reasons for Barca's recent decline has been the underusage of La Masia. If Barca are penalised the big name players will leave, leaving Barca to utilise the Masia graduates.
Sign in if you want to comment
Frenkie De Jong - Barca's Financial Woes
Page 1 of 3
posted on 6/7/22
Manchester United’s protracted pursuit of Frenkie de Jong is being held up by money owed to the Netherlands midfielder by Barcelona in wages he agreed to defer due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite Barcelona president Joan Laporta’s claims that De Jong is not for sale, United reached a broad agreement with the Catalan club last week over a fee for the Dutchman that would see them pay an initial €65 million (£55m) with around a further €20m (£17m) payable in add-ons.
However, United’s hopes of wrapping up a deal in time for De Jong to join the start of their summer tour have been complicated by deferred wages and bonuses the player is owed from Barcelona after he agreed to take a temporary pay cut to help ease the club’s financial difficulties during the Covid crisis.
De Jong joined Barcelona from Ajax on a five-year contract in 2019 on a fixed annual salary worth £12m but he agreed to reduce his salary by £9.4m in 2020/21 and by £4.3m last season meaning he is owed £13.7m in basic wages.
He is also believed to be owed another £3.4m in waived bonuses for playing in at least 60 per cent of Barcelona’s matches over the previous two seasons.
De Jong extended his contract at the Nou Camp by a further two years to 2026, which allowed Barcelona to spread the deferred payments over a longer period.
But De Jong’s prospective move to Old Trafford means Barcelona face the prospect of having to foot a bill in excess of £17m in wages owed to the player and has left new United manager Erik ten Hag facing an agonising wait to land his priority summer transfer target.
United are due to fly to Bangkok on Friday afternoon for the start of their pre-season tour but Tyrell Malacia, the Netherlands left back signed from Feyenoord for an initial £12.9m this week, could be the only new signing on the plane.
Free agent Christian Eriksen has agreed to join United on a three-year deal but the Denmark playmaker - who suffered a cardiac arrest at the Euros last summer - still needs to undergo a stringent medical before a deal can be finalised and faces a race to be involved in the Thailand leg of the tour. United are due to play Liverpool in Bangkok on Tuesday before flying to Melbourne and then later Perth.
United are hoping to reach a compromise with Ajax for Lisandro Martinez after having a £35m bid knocked back last week for the Argentina defender, who is also wanted by Arsenal and valued at around £45m.
But Martinez’s Ajax team-mate, Antony, fears he could be priced out of a move to Old Trafford with the Dutch club - who are eager to retain the Brazil forward for another season - holding out for almost £70 million, substantially more than United are prepared to pay.
There is thought to be some scepticism at Old Trafford that a deal for Antony is viable as things stand although the focus for the moment has been on beating Arsenal to Martinez, who, at just 5ft 9in tall, is very small for a centre-half, especially in the Premier League.
United’s squad were given a day off by Ten Hag on Wednesday. Old Trafford officials are still in the dark over whether Ronaldo - who wants to leave United this summer - will be on the flight to Bangkok after being granted extended leave for “family reasons”.
In a bizarre incident on Wednesday, United captain Harry Maguire appeared to “like” a post on Instagram which repeated a story that one of the reasons Ronaldo was unhappy at Old Trafford was due to having to take a pay cut following the club’s failure to qualify for the Champions League.
Tensions surfaced between Maguire and Ronaldo last season but sources at the club said the story had been “liked” purely by accident and that the England defender had no idea he had done it and subsequently deleted it.
Meanwhile, Jesse Lingard, who left United as a free agent last month and is being chased by Premier League clubs including West Ham and Everton, is set to travel to the United States to listen to pitches from Major League Soccer teams interested in signing the England forward.
Another player who left United as a free agent last month, Paul Pogba, has agreed a four-year deal with Juventus.
posted on 6/7/22
Barca are in a Royal mess. I cannot see a quick resolution to this unless Man U offer to pay FDJ directly. I think he'll be missing that plane.
posted on 6/7/22
I expect he'll be at OT before the start of the season.
posted on 6/7/22
An absolute shambles from Barcelona. They are genuinely on the brink of collapse. How on earth they thought all that stupid spending and wage bill wasnt going to come back and bite is anyone's guess.
One shambles of a club dealing with another. Results = Bigger shambles
posted on 6/7/22
They can't afford to pay him his owed wages or keep him either... Such a mess.
I reckon FDJ will eventually be at OT, but who knows what will happen inbetween. Just annoying it scuppers our pre-season plans due to incompetency (not on United's part for once).
posted on 6/7/22
Wonder how much they owe the rest of their squad in wages.
posted on 6/7/22
comment by Glazers Out (SE85) (U21241)
posted 46 seconds ago
An absolute shambles from Barcelona. They are genuinely on the brink of collapse. How on earth they thought all that stupid spending and wage bill wasnt going to come back and bite is anyone's guess.
One shambles of a club dealing with another. Results = Bigger shambles
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The issue here seems to be all Barcelona, not us.
posted on 6/7/22
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Glazers Out (SE85) (U21241)
posted 46 seconds ago
An absolute shambles from Barcelona. They are genuinely on the brink of collapse. How on earth they thought all that stupid spending and wage bill wasnt going to come back and bite is anyone's guess.
One shambles of a club dealing with another. Results = Bigger shambles
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The issue here seems to be all Barcelona, not us.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah true but we can't really say we haven't been a shambles for 10 years can we? We've spent over a billion quid and not even got better. 😂
Barca have top trumped us in the shambles stakes but we still have a lot of mess to sort ourselves.
posted on 6/7/22
comment by Vladimikel Artutin - committing war crimes against football since 2019 (U18355)
posted 1 minute ago
Wonder how much they owe the rest of their squad in wages.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
well, Pique reduced his salary from around £15m to about £2-3m a couple of years ago. So they owe him a fortune. Pretty much all the older players took big cuts I think.
All these cuts are doing though are allowing Barca to offer contracts to new players rather than cut their debts.
posted on 6/7/22
All these cuts are doing though are allowing Barca to offer contracts to new players rather than cut their debts.
_____________
They're still after Raphina aren't they? What a club
posted on 6/7/22
Barca owe a single player nearly £15m yet have their puppet journos telling everyone they can afford to go and sign Lewandowski, Raphinha, Bernardo Silva, etc. 😂
Joke club
posted on 6/7/22
Apparently Bayern have said to them that they must pay for Lewa cash upfront as they are concerned they won't exist in two years time. 😂😂😂
posted on 6/7/22
comment by Randomer (U5245)
posted 4 minutes ago
Barca owe a single player nearly £15m yet have their puppet journos telling everyone they can afford to go and sign Lewandowski, Raphinha, Bernardo Silva, etc. 😂
Joke club
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You’d think they’d want to sort out their own problems before with the players they currently have before bringing in new ones. Its bizarre the way they operate in the transfer market.
posted on 6/7/22
Yeah true but we can't really say we haven't been a shambles for 10 years can we?
….
No one has. So it seems rather daft doing so when it clearly isn’t.
posted on 6/7/22
It is a shame La Liga does not treat Barcelona like Derby have been treated. Ban them from signing players until they get their finances in order and dock them points when they don’t comply.
posted on 6/7/22
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 6 minutes ago
It is a shame La Liga does not treat Barcelona like Derby have been treated. Ban them from signing players until they get their finances in order and dock them points when they don’t comply.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This
posted on 6/7/22
Double edged sword really. Sign the player on a contract. Beg him to take a 80% paycut cos neglect on the club's part. Then target new players to try and recapture success.
If I was a player I'd want reinforcements to try and win trophies but I wouldn't want it to undermine my chances of ever seeing my money. And new signings aren't joining on 20k a week so I'd question why they deserve it more than those already signed.
Footballers may be over paid but that his hardly justified grounds for the club using the savings to repeat the same mistakes. Fact they sold future income/revenue streams means they are really in trouble long term unless they recapture success quickly.
It's almost like the super league needs to happen or they will crumble. League should step in 100%. They did before but it just motivates Barca to find loopholes without actually fixing the problem. It's a joke.
I think city and psg are a joke but how barca and large ligament can throw shade at them is a pi55take tbh
posted on 6/7/22
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 18 minutes ago
Yeah true but we can't really say we haven't been a shambles for 10 years can we?
….
No one has. So it seems rather daft doing so when it clearly isn’t.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You don't half look for controversy where there is none. It was a throwaway comment.
We have been a shambles. A massive shambles. Sometimes it feels good to say it. Let's leave it at that.
posted on 6/7/22
It’s crazy what’s happening to Barca right now and how public Laporta is being with everything even though it only makes him and the club look like total sccumbags.
I get that they’re a huge club but why do players like Lewandowski want to join them right now? On top of that they made their signings of Kessie and Christensen official the other day but still can’t actually register them.
Bayern even joked they want all the money for any purchase of Lewa straight away as Barca might not even be around in a couple years.
posted on 6/7/22
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 6/7/22
comment by Glazers Out (SE85) (U21241)
posted 23 minutes ago
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 18 minutes ago
Yeah true but we can't really say we haven't been a shambles for 10 years can we?
….
No one has. So it seems rather daft doing so when it clearly isn’t.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You don't half look for controversy where there is none. It was a throwaway comment.
We have been a shambles. A massive shambles. Sometimes it feels good to say it. Let's leave it at that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to keep sounding like Nohlman then fine.
posted on 6/7/22
How did Barca come to this? How far back does it go?
posted on 6/7/22
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 3 minutes ago
How did Barca come to this? How far back does it go?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Goes back quite far, Josep Bartomeu who left in 2020 started this mess. Pandemic hasn't helped, paying Messi obscene wages too.
Could go back to them paying 100mil+ for Coutinho, Griezmann, Dembele over 2/3 years and all 3 have flopped. Probably since 2016-17 it had accelerated and got worse with this signings.
posted on 6/7/22
comment by United we win (U19958)
posted 18 minutes ago
Barca will be fine as la liga can’t afford for them to collapse. I see a bailout happening at some point
----------------------------------------------------------------------
a bail out, from where ?
posted on 6/7/22
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 57 minutes ago
It is a shame La Liga does not treat Barcelona like Derby have been treated. Ban them from signing players until they get their finances in order and dock them points when they don’t comply.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It could be a blessing in disguise for Barca. Sure they'll be in the 2nd tier and their brand will suffer. One of the reasons for Barca's recent decline has been the underusage of La Masia. If Barca are penalised the big name players will leave, leaving Barca to utilise the Masia graduates.
Page 1 of 3