Barcelona President Joan Laporta makes public appeal to Frenkie de Jong

Barcelona have made a number of major signings this summer, but are yet to see any similarly sized exits. The player who has been most strongly linked with a move away from Barcelona is Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong, but there has been no movement on that front for some time.

As one of their most saleable assets and in a position that they have cover, de Jong appears to have been marked out as the prime candidate to help lighten their wage bill. It has been suggested that if Barcelona cannot find some way to remove of lessen de Jong’s salary, they may be unable to register players.

Speaking to the press in New York City, President Joan Laporta seemed to make a public appeal for de Jong to reduce his salary, asking him to do his part. Sport carried his comments.

“We are going to do everything possible so that he can stay and we hope that the player also does everything possible in order to stay. We all have to make an effort.”

“We found a payroll that had shot up more than 40%. What is clear is that we have a new salary structure and all players have to fit into it.”

“The important thing is that he wants to stay and we want him to stay.”

Few will have sympathy for Laporta in his requests, as he tries to fight for his interests. The fact remains that de Jong has a contract and the Blaugrana could just have easily not signed some of their latest recruits if they were unable to register them with de Jong’s salary as it is.

Tags Barcelona Frenkie de Jong Joan Laporta Manchester United
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