Man Utd could be about to make Frenkie de Jong transfer mistake they’ve made before

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Manchester United are staying patient in their pursuit of Frenkie de Jong. The Barcelona midfielder has publicly stated he’d prefer to stay at the Nou Camp but United continue to chase the Dutchman, who is evidently the top target for new manager Erik ten Hag.

The pair worked together at Ajax and De Jong is still one of the finest ball-playing midfielders about several years on. Goal report that United aren’t ready to give up on signing the Netherlands international, who is widely admired at United and could be sold due to Barca’s financial problems, despite his desire to remain in Spain.

De Jong, valued at around £70million, will need some serious convincing to move to Old Trafford though. And while signing him would be a huge coup if United can get a deal done, they are taking a real risk by putting so much time and effort into a move that may have been doomed from the start.

Despite their determination to sign the 25-year-old, United may end up having wasted vital weeks of the summer window concentrating their efforts on a player who was never eager to join anyway. It would be reminiscent of 2013 when they failed to sign Cesc Fabregas.

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Fabregas was likewise a Barcelona player and new manager David Moyes’ priority target, after the Scot had said no to signing Thiago Alcantara, who instead joined Bayern Munich and is now flourishing at Liverpool. Barca rejected multiple bids for Fabregas that summer and the Spanish midfielder insisted publicly he was happy in Catalonia and did not want to leave.

Regardless United dedicated much of their summer trying to do a deal against the odds. They also failed to sign Real Madrid duo Toni Kroos and Gareth Bale, with Moyes admitting since the Red Devils that were “very much after” Fabregas and Bale in particular.

Ultimately United signed Marouane Fellaini from Everton instead and though the big-haired Belgian had some success in Manchester, he was not the same calibre of player as Kroos or Fabregas. A higher-quality alternative might have been sought by the then-English champions had they not spent so much time trying to land Fabregas.

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It is less clear who the first-choice fallback will be if the efforts to bring in De Jong are similarly unsuccessful. Declan Rice, N’Golo Kante and Kalvin Phillips – all different types of midfielder and all at least as expensive if not more expensive than the Barcelona star – are said to be other midfield targets.

It is also unknown whether United have an internal deadline date set on De Jong. United’s first pre-season match is on July 12 which indicates the club have the rest of June if they want new players in the building for when the vital fitness build-up begins.

Ten Hag will want, and need, as long as possible with as much of his squad as possible in the summer. It’s vital any new additions, especially any as important as a player like De Jong, get a full pre-season to bed in. And that means if United spend weeks chasing him only to miss out, even if they secure a high-quality replacement – unlike Moyes did – they may still suffer from time lost.

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