Frenkie de Jong’s agent has told Manchester United to stop trying to convince the player to move to Old Trafford even though they agreed a fee with Barcelona, according to reports.
United CEO Richard Arnold as well as football director John Murtough have been in Catalunya this week to meet with their Barcelona counterparts, agreeing a fee after weeks of negotiations.
A deal worth around €85m (£72m) has been accepted by the Spanish team, with around £63m set to be paid up front and another £10m heading to Barca in various add-ons.
But, the deal has remained in jeopardy due to De Jong’s reluctance to join United, with Barca’s hierarchy even meeting with the Dutchman on Thursday to ask him to accept the offer.
But their pleas appear to have fallen on deaf ears, with Spanish newspaper Sport claiming that De Jong’s agent, Ali Dursun, has told Arnold and Murtough to give up on trying to convince him to join.
The trio met in Barcelona with the Red Devils hoping to persuade De Jong to accept their offer now that a fee has been agreed.
But they met only further resistance, with Dursun making it clear that his client does not want to sign for the Ten Hag’s side.
De Jong – and particularly his girlfriend – do not want to leave Barcelona for Manchester, with the midfielder unwilling to uproot his family or drop down into the Europa League.
Despite the presence of Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford, the midfielder also has huge doubts about the project on offer at United and how close they are to competing for silverware once again.
Dursun has told United to stop ‘wasting their time’ because De Jong’s position is now clear: he does not want to join the Red Devils.
He has also asked his agent to no longer inform him about Barca’s efforts to sell him, taking an ignorance is bliss approach, and has no intention in accepting their demands to join United.
