The Catalan media are again fretting over Barcelona’s chances of signing Frenkie De Jong for a reasonable price, with further clubs being brought into the picture.
In their Tuesday edition, Mundo Deportivo state: ‘De Telegraaf published yesterday that Ali Dursun, agent of De Jong, is assured that Real Madrid and (Manchester) United want the Ajax player.’
That would see the price further pushed up for Barcelona, even if the newspaper insists De Jong’s priority is to play on the same team as Lionel Messi.
Personal will can take a transfer a long way, but Ajax will also have a say in things.
Going from Mundo Deportivo’s claims, we then checked out De Telegraaf’s report.
This is exactly what they quoted the agent as saying on Manchester United and Real Madrid: “I can neither confirm nor deny this. You have to ask Marc Overmars because I send all the clubs that report to me to him.”
De Telegraaf claim the clubs have ‘officially’ made their interest known via the agent, although he clearly didn’t want to confirm that. The intention of both is described as ‘concrete’.
It’s in both the interests of De Jong’s agent and Ajax for there to be the idea of a huge auction for the player.
When Davinson Sanchez was sold to Tottenham, De Telegraaf seemed to have a constant stream of leaks from Ajax which claimed of serious interest from elsewhere, as Spurs were pressured to pay more.
The tactic didn’t work that time, but once Overmars accepts he’s selling De Jong then there’s likely going to be another string of claims. Manchester United look set to be involved, whether their interest is genuine or not.
