Remember when we all thought Manchester United had agreed a deal with Barcelona for Frenkie De Jong? That was fun, right? It seemed like an initial £56m plus add-ons would do the trick, but speaking on his Twitch show Jijantes FC, Spanish journalist Gerard Romero claims that the Catalan club are holding out for closer to £64m up front with another £10m in add-ons.
Why so much? Well, Barcelona want to bring in Bernardo Silva from Manchester City and Pep Guardiola has said that the Portuguese midfielder is worth £70m, so that money has to come from somewhere. And that somewhere is Manchester United. As for De Jong himself, it now seems that he has come round to the idea of the transfer and is in ‘daily’ contact with Erik Ten Hag.Ronaldo is still not back in Manchester United training and it’s now being called ‘indefinite leave’ as if that were a thing.
“Even without Ronaldo’s desire to leave, United have had to remedy their attacking output for a long time,” says Sky Sports reporter Melissa Reddy.Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel would prefer the club to buy some defenders, thank you. And one option might be Benjamin Pavard, who would be available from Bayern Munich if they complete a deal for Matthijs de Ligt . But they will face serious competition from Juventus and Atletico Madrid.