Man U foresees Barca reducing De Jong asking price

Man Utd believe Barcelona will reduce their valuation of Frenkie de Jong due to the club’s difficult financial situation, according to reports.

Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag is eager to reunite with the Netherlands international after enjoying a fruitful spell together at Ajax.

De Jong is a top summer target for the Premier League giants, who have already had a bid worth €60m plus €10m in add-ons turned down.

However, Man Utd are ‘confident’ Barcelona will cave and accept their demands after initially asking for €85m.

This is according to The Guardian, who claim that United may make a €70m bid including add-ons for the 25-year-old.

The La Liga club are going through an extremely difficult spell financially and are keen to offload De Jong in order to raise some much-needed funds to conduct some business of their own this summer.

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Furthermore, the ‘lack of other suitors’ for the midfielder puts Man Utd in a strong position – despite reports suggesting Man City are ready to swoop in and steal the player from their city rivals.

Barca could be ‘forced’ into a sale, and if they don’t offload De Jong, they may be unable to strengthen their squad in the coming months.

While Ten Hag has made the Dutch playmaker his ‘prime target’, he is also interested in signing current Ajax players Jurrien Timber and Antony.

Timber has reportedly opted to stay in Holland; however, Antony still remains on Ten Hag’s shortlist.