Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong ‘refusing to negotiate moves with Chelsea and Man United’

Frenkie de Jong is reportedly refusing to negotiate with Chelsea and Manchester United, despite the two Premier League clubs being interested in signing the Barcelona midfielder.

De Jong has been linked with a move to Old Trafford throughout the summer and United agreed a £63m fee with Barcelona last month, while Chelsea recently joined the race for his signature, but de Jong is refusing to consider a move, as things stand, according to Spanish outlet Sport.

Meanwhile, Barcelona are currently trying to convince de Jong to take a reduction to his salary, but the Dutchman is not agreeing to their demands, and has made it clear that he will not be pressured into lowering his wages.

This latest twist follows reports on Monday that Barcelona have told de Jong that they want to rip up his current contract and revert back to the one that he signed when he first joined in 2019, as they claim that his latest deal which was handed to him by club’s former board involves ‘criminality’.

De Jong was given a massive two-year extension by previous Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and is due to earn €20m (£16.8m) net this season and as much as €25m (£21m) the following campaign with £17m of deferred wages factored in.

However, according to The Athletic, the club wrote to the player on July 15 to tell him that they ‘found evidence of criminal actions on behalf of the parties who signed his renewal’ in October 2020.

The letter reportedly says that Barcelona believe they are in a position to launch criminal proceedings to ‘ascertain where responsibility resides for the supposed wrongdoing.’  

De Jong has already been warned that if he stays at Barcelona he either needs to take a pay cut or find himself used from the bench (as he was in Sunday’s friendly win over Pumas) or even as a centre-back (as he was on the US pre-season tour).

The club had hoped that the prospect of him not playing in his position in the lead-up to November’s World Cup would make the player crack but so far he has held his ground.

Threat of legal action could therefore be a ploy to get De Jong to revert to his original contract and keep him at the club.

It’s claimed the previous Barcelona board are ‘confident’ in the legality of the contract renewal signed by De Jong and that it was signed off by lawyers and LaLiga.   

Gerard Pique, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Clement Lenglet were all given new contracts at the same time and it’s claimed they are having similar conversations with the club.

Barcelona see the selling of De Jong as the answer to the current financial constraints that are stopping them from registering new signings, including Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha. They also believe his departure will allow them to pursue a deal for Bernardo Silva, who started Manchester City’s first game of the season at West Ham on the bench on Sunday.

The financial gain will come for them with the wages because the City midfielder will earn a fraction of the Dutch international’s projected wages.

De Jong is not budging on lowering his salary at the moment, though, which could cause his relationship with the club and their fans to sour.

Barcelona team-mate Martin Braithwaite was loudly booed by fans when he was introduced to the crowd ahead of Sunday’s final pre-season match after it was reported that he was refusing to leave the club until he received his full salary.

De Jong appears to be taking a similar stance, and this may lead to supporters turning on him as well.