Barcelona continue to place the weight of the world on Frenkie de Jong‘s shoulders, with the Blaugrana wishing to offload the midfielder in order to more quickly register their new acquisitions this summer.
The Dutchman has been most firmly connected with Manchester United, with a notion in Spain that a deal has been reached and that the move is just awaiting the player’s assent.
According to the report from Catalan newspaper Sport, Barcelona want to end the ‘soap opera’ as soon as possible. To try and make this happen there’s going to be a meeting in the ‘next few hours’ with De Jong, in an attempt to ‘untangle’ the situation.
It’s unclear how they intend to accomplish this, and there don’t appear to be any significant improvements in the situation. Sport has used Xavi Hernandez a lot in central defense in the last two games, despite the manager stating that his selection decisions were not intended to send a message.
Manchester United and Chelsea have both been mentioned as possible destinations for the midfielder, and it does not appear like Erik ten Hag’s team has given up on him.
Barcelona plainly hopes that this encounter will drive De Jong closer to leaving and persuade him to accept the move he has been hesitant to undertake.