Given how the summer transfer window has gone for Manchester United, or more accurately how its gone nowhere, just submitting a bid is considered exciting now. Or preparing to bid, or wherever we are right now with the Frenkie de Jong situation. That’s indeed how moribund the transfer window has been for United thus far.
But United are now going to bid higher, according to the Manchester Evening News, who claim United’s opening offer of €60m (£51.64m) was rejected by FC Barcelona. The new bid is understood to be in the neighborhood of £55 million plus around £17 million in add-ons, according to Marca.
“Man Utd want to sign Frenkie de Jong before moving on to other targets.”
For a club the size of Utd – generating at least £600m a year, other signings should never depend on how much is left after signing the primary target. Embarrassing!!!
— UtdFaithfuls (@UtdFaithfuls) June 23, 2022
The Catalan club are said to want €86m, and are believed to be holding resolute. Honestly, it’s really getting laughable at this point:
a.) how long the negotiating for the defensive midfielder is dragging out and
b.) the fact that United have still not signed a single new player this summer. United entered the off-season FAR behind their rivals at home, and the next major city over. The chasm is only growing.
? #mufc sources say they are “negotiating hard” for a fair deal for Frenkie de Jong as they believe that had they yielded to Barcelona’s initial valuation it could have affected their capacity to strengthen other areas of the squad. [Samuel Luckhurst, MEN]
— Utd District (@UtdDistrict) June 23, 2022
De Jong checks off all the boxes for United, especially when you consider how much success he had under manager Erik ten Hag when the pair were at Ajax. But this narrative is going the same way as: Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho, Paul Pogba, Raphael Varane etc. etc. etc. United will hold out to try and get the price that they want…only to eventually just pony up the dough, in the end that the other club demands/demanded.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.