Frenkie de Jong, a midfielder for Barcelona, is once again on Manchester United’s radar ahead of the summer transfer window. Casemiro could be a big part of getting de Jong to move to Old Trafford.
Barca and United agreed on a transfer fee of £56.2 million for the Dutch midfielder last summer. However, the deal fell through because the player wanted to stay in Catalonia’s capital, where he is the highest-paid player.
De Jong is said to be at the top of United’s shortlist of six players they want to sign this summer. His former Ajax manager Erik ten Hag thinks that the high-flying Red Devils can take advantage of Barca’s bad financial situation—they need to cut their wage bill before next season—to get his former star midfielder.
Even though he didn’t end up joining United, he and the club talked about it a lot over the summer. De Jong even liked an Instagram photo of Casemiro arriving at Old Trafford for the first time since he joined United from Real Madrid in August.
Now, a report from talkSPORT says that Casemiro’s presence at United would be a big reason why De Jong might leave Camp Nou to play with Ten Hag again. Even though they played against each other in several El Clasicos, the two midfield stars have a lot of respect for each other.
Also, De Jong played both games for Blaugrana as they were knocked out of the Europa League. People in the United camp think that the midfielder seeing the level of United and the good vibes at Old Trafford could help convince him to join in the future.
After missing out on De Jong last summer, United moved to sign Casemiro and also signed Christian Eriksen as a free agent to play in the middle of the field. After the Dane got hurt, the club also got Marcel Sabitzer on loan from Bayern Munich until the end of the season.
United already had Scott McTominay and Fred as options in the middle of the field, but the first-team squad hasn’t had enough players in that position in recent years. Donny van de Beek also has an injury that will last a long time.
Ten Hag wants to keep making changes to his team this summer. United are open to offers for striker Anthony Martial, club captain Harry Maguire, and Alex Telles, who is on loan at Sevilla.
