Once again, Frenkie de Jong has been linked with a move to Manchester United, but according to Fabrizio Romano, those reports must be taken with a healthy dose of salt.
The Mirror (via Sport) say that de Jong had been in touch with United manager Erik ten Hag in order to tell him that he would be open to listening to an offer now, a 180-degree turn from his stance this past summer. Supposedly the incessant attempts from Barcelona to get him to lower his salary are starting, understandably, to grate on the Dutchman.
That may well be true, but Romano told Caught Offside in his column that he was not considering a move because of it.
“For Frenkie de Jong, I think it’s not time to restart the reports… it’s absolutely the same: for a future transfer to happen, Frenkie has to change his mind and this has not happened. He’s focused on Barca now.”
It would almost be unnatural if de Jong was not frustrated with his treatment from Barcelona over the past nine months, as he expressed recently in the Netherlands.
To see him U-turn on his stance just four months later though, having withstood the brunt of the pressure applied by the Catalan press, would be a shock. De Jong left for the World Cup having regained his starting place and looking in good form for Xavi Hernandez.
