Barcelona are anticipating another attempt to sign Frenkie de Jong in one of the two upcoming transfer windows, although this time from Bayern Munich.
The Dutchman was subject to a lengthy and persistent pursuit from Manchester United last summer, with Erik ten Hag determined to make him a star at Old Trafford. On the other side, Barcelona seemed content to let him go.
De Jong dug his heels in though and refused to budge an inch on either his contract or a move. Recently Barcelona Sporting Director Jordi Cruyff seemed clear that the club would not be pushing his compatriot out of the door, remarking that the time for selling de Jong is past.
However Sport have referenced a report from German outlet TZ, which claims that Bayern Munich are looking at de Jong as potentially their next big signing. The Bavarian giants have supposedly let Barcelona know that they are paying close attention to de Jong’s situation. Bayern showed fleeting interest in him last summer, but did not see it as the right time to make a move, given tensions between the clubs over Robert Lewandowski.
While theoretically de Jong would maintain his stance on not wanting to leave Barcelona, but Bayern are a different animal to United. Regularly winning titles and competing in the Champions League, one of the main reasons de Jong supposedly did not consider United was their lack of Champions League football. This was before Barcelona themselves dropped into the Europa League to face United.
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