Frenkie de Jong remaining at Barcelona would cause Man United more embarrassment than the Cesc Fabregas incident.
Speaking in Melbourne is Ten Hag
If Barcelona fail to stuff Frenkie de Jong into a container addressed to M16, the Manchester Evening News might have done the Manchester United media department's job for them. How Zidane Iqbal, 19, studies De Jong was covered in a piece on the 19-year-old in January.
"We have confidence in the young athletes who have achieved success on the tour, and Zidane bases his style of play on De Jong. Zidane desires to join the team as well." The storyline holds up.
The absurdity of United's pursuit of De Jong is that they insist they are going after a player who wants to join them. Everything suggests the opposite. In May, De Jong stated, "I prefer to stay." In June, he referred to Barcelona as his "dream team."
According to unnamed sources close to Barcelona players, De Jong does not want to leave. Nevertheless, United is confident enough to have started a tenth week of negotiations to sign him, and their chief executive traveled to Barcelona last week after indicating he would not participate during a discussion with supporters in a bar.
David Moyes was given hope amid the Cesc Fabregas incident when Fabregas spoke with his former teammate from Arsenal, Robin van Persie,saying how much he wanted to join United.
Erik ten Hag has an advantage over De Jong because they already have a rapport. Moyes didn't, thus an agreement for Fabregas was always improbable.
De Jong is still a player for Barcelona, though. If he had really wanted to play for United, he would have joined the team by now. If he stays in Catalonia, this will be a much bigger scandal for United than the Fabregas farce.
The well-intentioned recruitment overhaul that United started three years ago is no longer followed. That put a focus on players who were committed to playing for United. De Jong is not, but United hasn't given up.
Matt Judge was given research tasks by Ed Woodward to evaluate players' profiles and openness to joining United. With all the limitations, if the manager wants a player, United will try to sign him.
Who allowed this individual to board the aircraft?
On Wednesday, it will have been seventy days since United contacted Barcelona over De Jong. The following day, John Murtough travelled to Amsterdam to meet Erik ten Hag before attending additional recruitment meetings in London the following day. A week has passed since Murtough and Richard Arnold's Barcelona filming.
Ali Dursun, De Jong's agent, has already been received at Carrington this summer. Barcelona is thought to have been informed by Dursun. Only Barcelona wants to sell De Jong; he doesn't want to go. United had a hunch that De Jong would give in under pressure.
United claim that the wage deferral is a significant problem. Barcelona owes £17 million to De Jong. He has plenty of money, but perhaps not enough pride.
Philippe Coutinho was a failed flush; De Jong is not. If he stays at Barcelona, Xavi, who took over for Ronald Koeman in November and started him in 28 of his 35 matches, will probably give him a significant role. Barcelona is not trying to sell him at Xavi's request.
More cautionary signs were raised about a move for De Jong than in Pyongyang. Since central midfield has been the squad's weakest position over the past year, United are now less than three weeks away from their season opener. De facto, they have till August 7 to improve their midfield.
McTominay and Fred are still United's starting midfielders.
Iqbal, who has played eight minutes of first-team football, is the third-choice midfielder, followed by Charlie Savage, who has played eight minutes of senior football. Christian Eriksen can play deep, but his natural position is as a playmaker, therefore United must make the most of his talent in the final third.
The right side as a whole played really well, according to Ten Hag, because of the strong connection between Jadon Sancho and Diogo Dalot as well as the addition of Bruno, Martial, and Scott McTominay. McTominay scored against Melbourne Victory. In the 4-0 thumping of Liverpool, Fred also scored.
Although McTominay and Fred both contribute to the team and the latter does so as the starter, their axis has a ceiling and they have long since reached it. The plot has to be adjusted.
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