Frenkie de Jong's prospective move to Manchester United has been delayed due to Barcelona owing him wages in excess of £17 million, according to reports.
It was widely reported towards the end of June that a move for Frenkie de Jong to Manchester United was close to completion, with one report even mentioning that a deal was 90% done - with just the finer details left to sort out.
We have had a number of conflicting statements since by Barcelona president Joan Laporta, implying they're not exactly very keen on selling the player.
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However, as reported by Charlotte Duncker of Times Sport, United sources have maintained that it hasn't actually been Barcelona's stance, and that they have been in positive and open talks over a transfer of the player.
Simon Stone of BBC Sport also talked about Frenkie de Jong, mentioning that an outline of the deal to bring him to Old Trafford has been agreed as of last week, but that the completion of the deal has been slow.
James Ducker of Telegraph Sport provided an update on why that has been the case.
He also initially reiterated that the two clubs had reached a broad agreement last week over a sum of £55m along with £17m payable in add-ons for the player.
The article mentioned that Frenkie joined Barcelona on a salary of £12m in 2019, but that he agreed to reduce his salary by £9.4m in 2020/21 and £4.3m in 2021/22 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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This has led to him being owed £13.7m in basic wages.
The player was also said to have extended his contract at the Nou Camp until 2026, thereby allowing Barcelona to spread those deferred wage payments over a longer period.
It is mentioned that he's also owed another £3.4m in waived bonuses by the club, as a result of him playing in at least 60% of their games over the two previous seasons.
Hence, Barcelona are said to owe the player an amount of around £17.1m in deferred wage payments.
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Ducker mentions that a prospective move to United for Frenkie de Jong means Barcelona need to pay him the said amount.
This is mentioned as the reason why a move to United has been held up, complicating the club's hopes of having De Jong available by the start of their summer tour.
Spanish outlet Marca also covered Frenkie de Jong's contract details a day earlier. Alongside mentioning the deferred wage payments James Ducker did, they mentioned the player was owed a total amount of €88.58m over the remaining four years of his deal.
The article goes on to state he's due a payment of almost €21m in the 2022/23 financial year, but an even bigger amount of at least €27.7m in 2023/24.
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Given Fabrizio Romano's information about the player not exactly being enthusiastic about taking a salary cut to stay at Barcelona, it makes sense as to why they want to sell him, despite Laporta's very public stance stating otherwise.
With United already having a broad agreement with Barcelona on the figures of a deal for a week now, and with multiple reliable sources like Jason Burt having mentioned that discussions over personal terms for the player are not expected to be a problem (information reiterated by Ian Whittell of Telegraph Sport and Sky Sports), it does seem like the issue holding up the deal is something else - the deferred wage payments being the reason would then make a lot of sense, as things stand.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Manchester United, Manchester United Transfer News & Rumours, Transfers, Frenkie De Jong, Joan Laporta, Barcelona, Premier League, Football, Erik Ten Hag