Manchester United’s had ‘doubts about the price tag’ for Frenkie de Jong, hence the deal not happening this summer.
That’s according to Algemeen Dagblad, who cover the first 100 days of Erik ten Hag at Manchester United today and provide details on the situation behind the scenes.
They explain that the Dutchman ‘immediately’ put the Barcelona midfielder ‘at the top of the list’ of desired reinforcements for his squad this summer.
Talks between the club and his agents were ‘running smoothly’ and it was made clear what it would cost to sign him, in terms of transfer price and salary demand and bonuses, before the international games in June.
But the final step was not taken by those higher up at Manchester United, partly due to ‘doubts about the price tag’. This led to postponement after postponement, much to Ten Hag’s frustration.
By June 14th there is still no final agreement between the clubs and when the midfielder returns from his holidays a few weeks later, ‘precious time’ seems to have been wasted.
At that point De Jong decides to dig in and stay at Barcelona, with Manchester United left feeling that if they’d been more ‘decisive’ in the spring they’d have got their man.
They didn’t and were instead left ruing the slow decision-making that plagues the club at several levels.
Indeed, there was a feeling they ‘come to the table’ too late for a number of players, even the ones they managed to sign such as Antony and Lisandro Martinez.
While those deals were eventually done, De Jong was not, leaving Ten Hag frustrated as he tries to change the culture at Old Trafford.
