Barcelona Sporting Director Deco laid out a series of priorities at the start of his tenure in the role, and one of them is Frenkie de Jong. After the Dutch midfielder became the most likely major sale two summers ago, relations have been strained between the club and the player, and Deco is the one in charge of fixing it.
He had intended to do so by the end of 2023. Sport say one of his targets was to wrap up a new contract for de Jong, but it looks as if this will not be possible yet, as Deco has only held telephone contact with his agents. The club’s desire is to put him on a long-term contract, and show him that he is a key player for them. The problem is that they want de Jong to do so at a lower rate.
De Jong is happy at Barcelona, and wants to stay, thus the two parties will eventually thrash out an agreement in all likelihood, but the Blaugrana are also keen to re-open talks over deferring some of his salary or spreading out his current deal that runs until 2025.
When Barcelona looked to sell de Jong to the highest bidder, there were still signficiant doubts about his ability to become a consistent factor for Barcelona. During that time he has proven beyond doubt that he is one of their best players, It looks as if they will try now to hang onto him, although not at all costs.
