Any faint hope Manchester United may have had of still landing Frenkie de Jong appears to have been quashed as the Dutch midfielder prepares to bolster his Barcelona salary.
United made little secret of the fact De Jong was their priority transfer target throughout the most recent window, with Red Devils football director John Murtough flying out to Catalonia to try and broker a deal with the La Liga titans for the Netherlands international.
Barcelona, as a result of their perilous financial predicament, were more than willing to cash in on the 25-year-old and at one stage agreed a fee with United of around £65million. However, De Jong was adamant he had no desire to leave the Camp Nou and dug his heels in.
A large part of the player's wish to stay put reportedly stemmed from the fact that De Jong had signed a lucrative deal under previous club president Josep Maria Bartomeu. Under the current reign of Joan Laporta, plenty of Barcelona stars were forced to take a drastic pay-cut so the club could register new signings.
De Jong was one of many who saw his wages decreased. The money owed to him from his original contract was being paid via deferred payments and the ex-Ajax star was not going anywhere until that situation was resolved.
According to YouTube channel Què T'hi Jugues, conversations surrounding the money De Jong is owed as well as his wages moving forward will take place at the end of the season, as agreed by Laporta. If all goes off without a hitch, United can bid farewell to any chance they had of signing the Dutchman.
De Jong has made it clear for quite some time that he views Barcelona as the pinnacle of club football and has no desire to up sticks. This comes as somewhat of a surprise considering his relationship with Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag.
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The pair worked closely together during their shared time at Ajax in a period where De Jong played arguably the best football of his club career to date.
De Jong recently discussed how he felt throughout the summer of relentless speculation over his future to Dutch outlet NOS. "For me it was clear, I wanted to stay at Barcelona," he explained. "There's no problem - between me and my teammates nothing has changed."
He went on to address the fact that at times throughout the saga, it did not appear as if De Jong and Barcelona were entirely on the same page.
"I can't give too much details away. But look.. the club has it's own idea's and I have my own idea's too and sometimes this clashes with each other. But at the end of the day things went okay."
