Man Utd reject Barcelona bid for Harry Maguire as part of Frenkie de Jong deal
Manchester United's £67million pursuit of Barcelona star Frenkie de Jong is finally nearing completion, but the Red Devils reportedly turned down an offer to include Harry Maguire in the deal.
That's according to The Sun, who claim that during negotiations Barcelona attempted to include the centre-back as part of the transfer, which was denied by United. Instead, the usual cash fee will be paid, with Barcelona set to recoup the fee they paid Ajax three years ago.
Erik ten Hag is due to begin his duties as United boss on Monday, and will hope to have De Jong completed shortly as his tenure gets underway. But the new United boss is also keen to work with Maguire.
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United have already seen 11 first-team players leave the club this summer, with Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard and Nemanja Matic all leaving the club on free deals. Unlike their Premier League rivals, they are yet to make a signing this summer.
But De Jong's deal is nearing completion, although if United stick to their reported £100m budget then they won't have much left to play with. Maguire remains the most expensive defender of all-time, and continues to be criticised as the United captain.
However, Ten Hag is keen to work with the England international, and potentially turn fortunes around for Maguire. But it's yet to be seen whether Maguire will remain the United captain under Ten Hag as the Dutchman revealed: "Next season is a different season but he did a great job.
"He's a great player he achieved already a lot so I'm looking forward to working with him." And Maguire has also been open about working under Ten Hag, with the captain keen to move on from a nightmare season at United.
"It’s been a tough campaign, no hiding away from that," Maguire explained. "It was a disappointing season individually and as a group. Football’s my life. I care about the club so much.
"I care about winning matches and taking the club to where it should be, where the fans deserve it to be. I’m sure on the first day of pre-season, everybody will be buzzing around, doing their best to impress and coming back in shape.
"We have a big season ahead. We know we are going to improve because last season was nowhere near good enough. The new manager will bring positive energy and the lads will go with that."
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