JUST-IN: Frenkie de Jong ‘blocking’ move to Man United over £14.3m wages
Frenkie de Jong is currently blocking a move to Manchester United due to a row over his wages at Barcelona, according to reports.
The Catalan giants have reached an agreement to sell De Jong to United for a fee in the region of £72m, including add-ons, according to various reports.
However, the player himself still needs to be convinced about a move to Old Trafford, as reported by Sport.
Frenkie de Jong wants to stay at Barcelona rather than moving to Manchester United
Earlier this week, Barcelona chiefs told De Jong that he would either need to take a pay cut on his £5m-a-year wages or leave the club due to their financial issues.
It has also emerged that Barcelona have asked De Jong to defer £14.3m of his wages, and this has become another sticking point for a potential move as the Dutch international is not happy about this and wants the matter resolved out of principle.
De Jong does not appear to have a future in Xavi’s team, with the Barcelona boss not viewing him as a defensive midfielder, while he feels that he has sufficient options to pick from to replace the 25-year-old.
However, De Jong still seems to want to stick around and fight for his place in the side.
If Barcelona cannot convince the Dutchman to change his mind on leaving, they could be left with a problem with regards to registering new signings this summer.
The club have been busy in the market, signing Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen on free transfers once their contracts had expired at AC Milan and Chelsea respectively.
Barcelona have also agreed a deal for Raphinha, but cannot register him until De Jong leaves
The duo were unveiled last week, and the club have since moved for Leeds winger Raphinha, announcing that they have agreed a deal in principle with the Premier League outfit on Wednesday.
However, registering these players could be a different matter altogether as the club have banked on offloading De Jong to get his wages off their books.
Xavi does not appear to have a place in his team for De Jong, but the Dutchman wants to stay
Barcelona unveiled Franck Kessie as a new signing last week, but he isn’t yet registered to play
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Barcelona had similar issues last summer as they had to wait to register Memphis Depay, Sergio Aguero and Eric Garcia until they slashed their wage bill.
They eventually had to bid farewell to club icon Lionel Messi as they could not afford to keep him due to his lucrative wages.
This problem with registering players appears to be resurfacing, and unless they can come to an agreement with De Jong, it is not easy to see how they will solve it.