Frenkie de Jong has agreed a ‘salary adjustment’ with Barcelona which is due to come into effect at the end of the season.
As reported by Marca.com, themselves quoting Què T’hi Jugues, the Dutch midfielder reached an agreement a few weeks ago with club president Joan Laporta to ‘adjust’ his salary to match ‘the economic reality of the Catalan institution.
This very much looks as though De Jong has agreed to stay at Barcelona despite changes to his contract, which all but kills off any lingering hope that Manchester United would be able to lure the 25 year old to Old Trafford in the next transfer window.
United manager Erik ten Hag made De Jong his number one target in the summer window which led to a long protracted transfer saga involving all sorts of contractual disputes.
One of these involved a potential illegal contract extension given to De Jong by former Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and a missing 18 million euros owed to the player from unpaid deferred wages.
Nothing is mentioned as to what the adjustment may be, however with other high profile Barcelona players agreeing to a salary reduction and the fact that the Spaniards want to adjust his salary to match that of the ‘economic reality’ the club finds itself in, there’s a good chance it will be a further salary reduction or at least the deferred wages total being reduced.
Needless to say throughout the whole transfer window De Jong seemed to always insinuate that he wanted to stay at the Catalan club, this salary ‘adjustment’ seems to strengthen that even further.
United have since signed Brazilian midfielder Casemiro whilst playing other new midfield signing Christian Eriksen where De Jong would have probably slotted in.
Despite a rocky start Ten Hag now seems to have found his preferred midfield selections.
De Jong on the other hand has become more of a substitute than a starter, only starting in half of the games played so far this season.
The Dutchman’s contract doesn’t run out until 2026 so he looks set to remain in Spain for the foreseeable future.
It remains to be seen if Ten Hag sticks with his current options moving forward or looks to a new target next transfer window.