Every summer transfer window there is one saga that rumbles on longer, and which grows more tedious than any other, and in 2022 there has been a clear winner in that field: Frenkie de Jong’s will he/won’t he move from Barcelona to Manchester United.
United’s first bid for the Dutch midfielder was submitted on 10 June and in the two months that have subsequently passed, the club has neither a) concluded a deal for De Jong nor b) ditched Plan A and signed somebody else instead.
The failure to add a new central midfielder to the squad – besides Christian Eriksen who is more accustomed to playing as a No 10 – resulted in Scott McTominay and Fred starting together in Erik ten Hag’s first competitive game in charge. Significantly, neither finished Sunday’s 2-1 defeat against Brighton.
Indeed, less than 24 hours after that disappointing result, news emerged that United are pursuing a deal for Juventus’ France international Adrien Rabiot, potentially as an alternative to De Jong, or maybe even to complement him.
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Furthermore, the 27-year-old is certainly not a stylistic fit for the De Jong role in Ten Hag’s system. Using data from Smarterscout, i looked for more suitable transfer targets than Rabiot using the “similar player” search function to match up players with De Jong, based upon his performances for Ajax under Ten Hag in 2018-19.
Our search was restricted to players based in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Eredivisie and Portugal’s Liga Nos from the start of 2018-19 until the present day. Smarterscout gives players a rating from zero to 99 based on how often and/or how effective they are at a specific skill and we filtered our search to prioritise those to have played in defensive midfield or central midfield with high marks in six of De Jong’s best categories: attacking output, defending quantity and quality, ball retention, link-up passing and dribbling.
The talent pool is dwindling, however, as a number of players to show up such as Vitinha (PSG), Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich) and Yves Bissouma (Spurs), have recently moved clubs. Another potential option, Daniel Braganca of Sporting Lisbon, also suffered an ACL injury last month and will miss a large chunk of 2022-23.
That leaves five standout candidates.
Remo Freuler (Atalanta)
There was only one player who popped up as a match to De Jong on more than one occasion (doing so in three separate seasons) – Atalanta midfielder Remo Freuler.
United have been accused of adopting a short-term approach in the transfer market after making an offer for Bologna’s 33-year-old striker Marko Arnautovic and Freuler – who will turn 31 next April – is also nearer the end of his career than the start.
He might soon become unobtainable too, as Nottingham Forest have been credited with an interest.
An accurate passer, Freuler’s link-up play volume – essentially his tendency and ability to play short passes – is the area in which he is most similar to De Jong. The Swiss is much more combative, though, as evidenced by the 10 yellow cards he collected in Serie A last season.
Konrad Laimer (RB Leipzig)
RB Leipzig’s Konrad Laimer is another player who has been in demand this summer with Bayern Munich seeing a couple of bids for the Austrian midfielder knocked back by their Bundesliga counterparts.
Having only recently turned 25 in May, the Austrian has the type of profile that supporters are perhaps more likely to get behind given he is operating at a high level but has further room to develop.
Here, the main point of comparison is in regards to defending. Laimer ranks higher for defensive quality, meaning he is a more accomplished ball-winner, but slightly lower in the number of defensive actions he made.
Similarly to Freuler, Laimer is perhaps more of a spoiler than a ball-player as demonstrated by his rating of 99 out of 99 for “disrupting opposition moves” which accounts for tackles, fouls, blocks and clearances. The vast majority of United fans will tell you that such qualities have been lacking from the team’s midfield for some time…
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United’s last great transfer saga pre-De Jong involved Jadon Sancho. The England winger eventually signed on the dotted line at Old Trafford but only following a pursuit that lasted at least 18 months and felt as though it went on considerably longer.
Should United fancy testing Borussia Dortmund’s resolve for another exciting young English talent, perhaps they could enquire after Jude Bellingham. The Bundesliga side beat the Red Devils to his signature in 2020.
United and Liverpool were both tentatively linked with a move for the teenager earlier this summer, but he looks set to stay where he is for the time being, given Dortmund have already sold Erling Haaland.
Although they’d likely have to wait for Bellingham, the England international would be exactly the kind of player that Ten Hag could build around for years to come. The most obvious similarity between Bellingham and De Jong is their ball retention qualities; they are both experts at keeping possession, be it through passing or dribbling.
Ibrahim Sangare (PSV)
All three of United’s summer signings have a history of playing in the Eredivisie with two of them (Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia) joining the club directly from the Dutch top flight.
If Ten Hag fancies raiding the competition again it might be to snap up Ivorian midfielder Ibrahim Sangare from PSV, now managed by none other than Ruud van Nistelrooy.
From a defensive standpoint, Sangare’s numbers last season are extremely similar to De Jong’s from his final campaign with Ajax. Their number of recoveries are almost identical: De Jong 98/99, Sangare 96/99. And so are their defensive ratings: De Jong 73, Sangare 75.
Sangare’s dribbling rating is well short of De Jong’s, though, which is strange given it is one of his best assets. The highly-rated Dutch winger Cody Gakpo was the only player in PSV’s squad to complete more successful dribbles than Sangare in 2021-22.
Matheus Nunes (Sporting Lisbon)
Arguably the best fit for the De Jong role, besides De Jong himself, is Sporting Lisbon’s Matheus Nunes, who has been linked to Liverpool, Manchester City and Wolves during this transfer window.
The 23-year-old was born in Brazil but plays for Portugal after moving to the country as a 12-year-old and is fast-becoming one of their most exciting young talents.
Nunes is naturally more attack-minded than some of the alternatives, but tended to play as part of a midfield pivot alongside recent Fulham signing Joao Palhinha in Sporting’s midfield. Like De Jong at Ajax, Nunes’ dribbling abilities from deep have caught the eye – so much so that he had a 99/99 rating for that skill.
Unusually for a central midfielder, Nunes ranked top for successful dribbles in the Portuguese league last season, completing 81 in total. When combined with his defensive qualities and ball retention skills, Nunes could be the perfect player to revamp United’s midfield.
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