Man United are keen on signing Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona in this summer’s transfer window with Paris Saint-Germain duo Mauricio Pochettino and Lionel Messi both on the same page that the Dutchman is a “fantastic player”.
De Jong, who joined Barcelona from Ajax back in 2019, is in United’s crosshairs ahead of the transfer window coming up in less than a week’s time. The Reds are desperate to strengthen their midfield options and De Jong is primary among their leading targets.
The midfielder had worked before with United manager Erik ten Hag at Ajax and the new fagger is keen to reunite with him at Old Trafford. He is reported to have contacted De Jong’s agent in trying to lure him to England, despite United’s lack of Champions League football next season very likely proving to be the deal-breaker.
Should United prove successful in their efforts to sign the 25-year-old – who netted four goals and provided five assists for Barcelona this past season – this could turn out to be a massive statement of intent for the club as the Barcelona star is considered one of the best box-to-box midfielders in Europe with his fair share of admirers.
Former teammate Messi is among those who have sung their praises of the midfielder as the duo played together at Barcelona up until the Argentine’s exit from the club last summer. La Pulga has always been an open fan of De Jong’s talents and had made his feelings on the Dutchman very clear during private conversations between himself, De Jong and former Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman.
The former Southampton boss himself, who left Camp Nou back in October last year, revealed that Messi indeed spoke very highly of the United target and that he enjoyed playing alongside him.
Koeman, speaking last year, told De Telegraaf: “When I arrived I told Frenkie: ‘This is your second season, you have to make a step higher now, you need to do more than just play along’. This sounds cruel, but he got the message.
“I told him to take more responsibility. To arrive in the opponent’s box more.
“During these conversations I also involved Messi. Messi told Frenkie that he is a fantastic player. He becomes happy around a player like Frenkie, because he wants to have pure football players around him.
“When we talk with the three of us, Messi shares his opinion towards Frenkie. He always tries to activate him, as Messi believes that Frenkie can reach a much higher level. He finds him a very intelligent player.”
Apart from Messi, the Netherlands international also has another keen admirer in PSG’s head coach Pochettino even way back in 2019, during which time the latter was in charge at Tottenham Hotspur.
The current beleaguered manager praised De Jong ahead of Spurs facing Ajax in the Champions League semi-finals just over three years ago. Although still an Ajax sideman at the time, Barcelona had already reached an agreement to sign De Jong that forthcoming summer.
Pochettino said: “If you ask me to focus on Frenkie de Jong, he is a fantastic player. I understand why Barcelona pay this fantastic amount.
“He is one of the players who impressed me the most but not only him, they have a lot of players around with quality.”