Barcelona look to hold on to Frenkie de Jong as transfer window nears close

Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong has long been linked with a move to Manchester United, with former Ajax manager Erik ten Hag trying to make the transfer happen, to get the Dutch midfielder with whom he worked in the Eredivisie. 

However, numerous offers have fallen through with de Jong expressing his wish to continue with the La Liga side. There’ve been reports that Barcelona might consider offloading the player to help with their finances, but coach Xavi Hernandez says otherwise. 

“I don’t know what will happen to Frenkie de Jong. Until August 31st anything can happen…”, he noted, adding, “He knows what I think and what the club want and need. Of course I’m counting on him, he’s a great player”, Fabrizio Romano reported. 

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Club president Joan Laporte was much more emphatic in saying “Frenkie’s our player and we want him to stay at Barcelona, he wants to stay too”, and added, “With him and his teammates, we have a very powerful midfield. He has offers, but we want him to stay”.

Elsewhere Laporte said that Umiti and Braithwaite both know it’s time to join another club, indicating the Catalans’ intent to let them go. He also announced that Barcelona would be completing the Marcos Alonso signing soon, which would see the Spanish player move from Chelsea to the La Liga side. 

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In this update, Laporte also hinted again at a Messi return, saying “I’ve good relationship with Leo Messi’s family.” Earlier both Xavi and the club president had expressed an interest in the Argentine returning to Barcelona to end his career there. 

While Messi leaving PSG for Barca would have been more of a possibility in the first season, the little magician is starting to find his place in the Ligue 1 side, and recently scored the first bicycle goal of his career against Clermont.