Barcelona have handed Manchester United a boost in their hopes of signing midfielder Frenkie de Jong this summer.
Club president Joan Laporta has confirmed the club are “doing everything” to generate funds in order to register their quintet of summer arrivals. Barca confirmed their first two summer arrivals with Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie – two deals that have been in place since March – moving to the club as free agents from Chelsea and Milan respectively.
That was followed by the arrival of Raphinha from Leeds United in a £55million transfer before the arrival of Robert Lewandowski was confirmed last month and defender Jules Kounde joined from Sevilla – with more signings likely to follow.
Barca’s priority now is to register their five new signings with La Liga, who have to be satisfied that the club can justify their registrations with their financial situation. With the league starting in less than two weeks, time is of the essence for the Blaugrana to bring in money.
The club’s president Laporta told reporters on Monday at the presentation of Kounde: "We are doing everything possible to register the signings. We have to do it before August 13." He continued that he was “optimistic” the situation would be resolved but did cautiously add: "Let's hope that the League sees it that way too."
Laporta also confirmed that “we are interested in more signings” but also added that the club were continuing to mortgage off their assets for immediate income. Following the signing off of two TV rights packages for domestic packages, they have now confirmed the sale of 25 percent of Barça Studios for €100m with socio.com.
Have Your Say! Would Man Utd become title contenders if they signed De Jong? Tell us what you think here.
United have an initial transfer fee of £56.2million agreed with Barca to sign midfielder Jong with a total package in the region of £72million. Barca have reportedly held a meeting with the midfield maestro informing him of their hope that he departs the Camp Nou this summer.
Barca are said to be privately open to De Jong's departure despite their stance of insisting he is not for sale and the understanding from United is that a deal is being held up by outstanding payments owed to the Dutch international.
The central midfielder is one of the highest earners at the Camp Nou and the club also owe him additional payments from amortizations and bonuses linked into his contract, with several deferred salary amounts dating back to the Covid pandemic two years ago.
