Funnily enough this was always the line from Spain wasn't it?
The line from England, via the Manchester press pack, has always been that United were confident it will happen, its all about monies owed blah, blah, blah. However, the press in Spain has been categorical that De Jong doesn't want to join Man Utd pretty much from the get go.
I don't blame United for trying to get De Jong. I imagine Ten Hag has told the club that De Jong could be crucial to making his system a success. Lord knows De Jong's a much better connecting midfielder than anyone currently at the club.
All things considered De Jong probably doesn't want to leave. A lot of players have been forced out of clubs before. Wesley Sneijder didn't want to leave Madrid, got forced out won a treble with Inter a year later. I can appreciate why United would be patient if the club feels, ultimately, we'll be the only out for De Jong in the end. Whether his heart is in it or not we need his skillset. So I get it...
...I just hope that we also have an appropriate plan B.
This is where I think he who shall not be named (or lese you risk derailing the whole thread) had a point.
When scouting players we need to identify people for whom Man Utd is the next logical step in their careers. Malacia, Martinez, Eriksen, in each case United was the obvious choice and an obvious bigger stage than the one they played on last season. Its similar to the way Sir Alex did it when building his last great side: Van der Saar from Fulham, Vidic from Red Star, Evra from Monaco, Carrick from Spurs, Ronaldo from Sporting, Rooney from Everton, Saha from Fulham. All of those players saw it as a step up for them, even though they were joining the club at the time when Mourinho's Chelsea was at its strongest, cos of the clubs they joined from.
Contrast this with trying to get players out of Barcelona...even if we think United are bigger there's always going to be a lot of players who don't. Especially when we haven't won a league for 10 years.
I'm hoping, at the end of the day, Barca tries to shove De Jong out of the door and we're there to scoop him up. However, I really do hope we've got a plan B in mind.