It’s over a week now since Richard Arnold and John Murtough arrived in Barcelona to finally nail down signing Frenkie de Jong.
Arnold, who became Manchester United’s chief executive in February, and Murtough, promoted to football director in March, met Barcelona’s sporting advisor Jordi Cruyff and director of football Mateu Alemany to discuss the transfer at the Triton Restaurante, a half-mile from the Nou Camp.
It’s the sort of transfer that should have been relatively straight forward. One club wants to buy a player the other club is open to selling. Erik ten Hag made De Jong a priority signing when he started as United’s new manager and Barcelona wanted to offload De Jong to rebalance the books.
His three years at Barcelona have returned only a Copa del Rey trophy and the Catalan club clearly believe his sizeable wages can be better spent elsewhere. For United, the prospect of reuniting De Jong, once considered the next great central midfielder before his career stalled, with his former Ajax manager to unlock that potential is seen as a risk worth taking.
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It’s a saga that has been ongoing for around two months now, at least since Ten Hag met with key Manchester United officials — including Murtough — in Amsterdam around the start of May to outline targets, shortly after Ten Hag’s Ajax won their 36th Dutch title.
At the time, it was expected that Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and Nemanja Matic would leave on a free transfers (all four have since departed) and central midfielders were made a priority. De Jong was considered a crucial signing to star in the centre of Ten Hag’s system, as he did at Ajax.
There have, of course, been problems, as with many big transfers. Not least United having to convince De Jong, who still has four year remaining on his Barcelona contract, to leave for a club without the offer of Champions League football in the upcoming season. De Jong also has an ongoing issue regarding wages deferred during the height of the pandemic, and is owed around £17m he intends to collect.
But the bottom line remains: Barcelona want to sell him, and Manchester United have an attractive project to sell in giving him the chance to rekindle a successful relationship at Ajax when they reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2019, earning the midfielder a £67m move to Barcelona. If De Jong was uncertain, you feel the Manchester United of old would have told him he had a week to make up his mind, or the deal was off.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has made public declarations about not needing to sell the player, but nothing more than the typical game-playing of a major football club attempting to ensure they get the best deal for a player they could do without.
And, anyway, surely none of this should’ve either prevented Manchester United securing the main transfer target of their new coach, or making up their mind to look elsewhere.
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Inside the 'eBay of football' that clubs like Arsenal and Man Utd use to find transfer bargains13 July, 2022Ten Hag is targeting players he knows well, assembling a sort of Ajax 2.0. Lisandro Martinez has just arrived from Ajax. Christian Eriksen, who recently signed on a free transfer, is a former Ajax player. Even Tyrell Malachia played for Ajax rivals Feyenoord. De Jong would be the marquee signing to complete the set, were he not proving so elusive for those tasked with securing the transfer.
By contrast, look at the way United’s rivals have conducted business, especially around key transfers. Manchester City signed the planet’s most in-demand striker, Erling Haaland, for around £51m a month ago, with relatively little fuss. Around the same time Liverpool secured key target Darwin Nunez from Benfica for £64m. Chelsea have already finalised a £47.5m move for Raheem Sterling.
Tottenham, meanwhile, worked swiftly to back Antonio Conte, signing several players he believes can turn them into at least Champions League contenders, including Richarlison from Everton for £60m. Two weeks ago, Arsenal completed the signing of Gabriel Jesus to lead their attack.
Why is it that Manchester United are lagging behind? How have they still not been able to seal the deal for a player they identified as a priority months ago whose club was open to selling?
It points to an ineptness within the club, an inexperience in negotiating major transfers, and it could cost them before the new season is even underway.
The Premier League kicks off in less than three weeks away — the Community Shield only two — and while their Big Six rivals have had plenty of time to bed in these recruits hoped to make the difference next season, United still don’t know if theirs will join them.
For a club once leaders of their field, it’s indicative of how far behind they have fallen in the post-Ferguson era of decline.
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