ERIK ten Hag will see his dream midfield on the Nou Camp pitch tonight, but unfortunately for the United manager, one of the trio will still be wearing Barcelona colours.
Frenkie de Jong was the central figure in the Reds’ summer transfer window of 2022. In fact, so much time and focus went into his signing that it’s remarkable that the club managed to still claim a successful window, despite failing to land Ten Hag’s top target.
It was in the second week of May when United first made their play for De Jong and the drama was still playing out three months later in August. When the season began and Ten Hag’s team imploded against Brighton and Brentford, attention was finally diverted away from a fruitless and frustrating pursuit.
An issue over wages owed by Barca to De Jong proved insurmountable, despite the clubs agreeing an EUR85m fee. There was also the idea that the midfielder was reluctant to make the move. He declared signing for the Catalans as his dream in 2019 and would be swapping the Champions League for the Europa League. As it turns out, Barcelona have dropped to Europe’s B-list as well for the second half of the season.
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