Manchester United have reportedly offered captain Bruno Fernandes in a stunning swap deal in the summer.
Fernandes, who has 10 goals and seven assists in the Premier League this season, appeared to hint that a move away from United could happen in the summer when he said, “Obviously, it doesn’t just depend on me, does it?".
And Spanish newspaper Nacional, via Football365, say that the Portugal international could be used in an almighty trade.
The outlet claims that United have offered a swap which would see Fernandes head to Barcelona and top target Frenkie de Jong move to Old Trafford.
United courted the Dutch midfielder for the whole of the 2022 summer window without any fruition and ultimately signed Casemiro for £70 million.
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De Jong remains at Barcelona but the report claims that he is on the list of Sir Jim Ratcliffe's "objectives".
But because they do not want to pay the £77.5 million valuation for the former Ajax man, it's claimed they are willing to use Fernandes as a makeweight in a deal.
Their proposal is to pay a fee of £17 million for De Jong, in addition to Fernandes being included in the transfer.
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It's suggested that Fernandes would "give the OK to Barca with his eyes closed" and even be prepared to lower his salary to represent the Blaugrana.
De Jong played under Erik ten Hag at Ajax and the United boss recently admitted that he was the necessary signing to implement his preferred style of play.
Asked about the chase for De Jong by Gary Neville, Ten Hag said: "That would have been Frenkie de Jong and Casemiro. [They would have] really been connected with each other. They would have been really complimentary with each other. Absolutely.
“That is a typical player if you want to play the Ajax style. You need that type of player.”
Topics: Manchester United, Frenkie De Jong, Bruno Fernandes
Josh Lawless