Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap

[DWelbz19]

He's not that good.

Neither is Neves, though. At least Fabian Ruiz has a similar-ish sort of skill set to de Jong. Wolves have put out initial early fees as high as Barcelona want for de Jong and the players are very different type of central midfielders.

The darkest timeline is de Jong rejecting us, Wolves knowing this and taking us to the cleaners for Neves, and the worst part of all — that prick Jorge Mendes making bucks off this potential transfer after the shit he and Ronaldo have pulled this window.

 

[BaguetteBoy]

It's right on the outside. It's only 20 miles away, you can drive into Chelsea in about 30/40 minutes.

If you are lucky more like 60-90 mins

 

[Brownie85]

Negotiating with Barca is the easier part of the deal. If you read past the headline, Ornstein is still saying that de Jong's preference is to stay at Barca and there's still his wage dispute so I imagine Chelsea will face the same challenges as us. I think it's looking more and more likely that de Jong will stay.

He might do, but it'll have to involve a wage cut. I guess it just depends now on how much he wants to stay. If United were to panic and pay his deferred wages, then i do wonder whether that will change his mind, but i really hope we don't do that, as it's not our place to do so

 

[pocco]

A lot of posts in this thread about this deal being "on" have been based around inferences and chaining together information so I'm just going to put this out there.

Last week there was a Utd brief that alternatives are being kept warm. Over the last few days there's been suggestions that De Jong would prefer London and CL, and the last couple of days Chelsea's name has started to come into it. Yesterday Neves' name came into picture.

So is it possible to infer from that, that Chelsea started, getting involved last week, Utd starting getting bad feedback and are floating alternatives because this went south quickly?

Just to be clear, I'm not stating that is the case, because I'm not certain of anything. But it seems plausible.

I think this is likely. People are deluded if they think the club will brief that they are walking away from the FDJ deal at this stage, because the fans all know what it will mean and they will look incompetent. Sometimes you've got to read between the lines, something many posters in here seem incapable of doing.

United Pros:

Manager he knows and likes and knows how to utilise him in his favoured position
Would have the team built around him

Chelsea Pros:

London living
CL for this season but just as much chance of missing it next year as United so it would be a silly thing to base your decision on.

Personally I think we would still have the edge but it would depend how adamant his missus is about London over Manchester.

Chelsea also have a very good coach and a better team. More chance of winning stuff there right now.

Well, shit dude. No need to attack the guy for not knowing what you meant

He's tied himself in all sorts of knots and is trying to weasel his way out, as per. 'Sorry I didn't mean to type that whole sentence, it's not what I really think'

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

So his priority is he wants to stay at Barca but if that changes and he wants to leave, do we have the upper hand against Chelsea?

 

[MUFC OK]

Especially considering I am going to poop on their lawn every day.

To be honest, it's not so outrageous that they would go over there and end up not getting the deal done. I've never really thought we would get De Jong, especially after so many stories saying he wasn't interested in coming to us.

 

[Dr. StrangeHate]

Negotiating with Barca is the easier part of the deal. If you read past the headline, Ornstein is still saying that de Jong's preference is to stay at Barca and there's still his wage dispute so I imagine Chelsea will face the same challenges as us. I think it's looking more and more likely that de Jong will stay.

I still think it is the deferred money that is the main thing. He is being ridiculed at Barca, even if he loves the club or city there is only so much sh** you are willing to take. His preference for Barca should be long dead by now.

 

[Crimson King]

It feels like a weird signing for Chelsea. He's a different profile to what they have, but they've some great CMs at the moment, so he wouldn't improve their first XI that much. I know Kante and Jorginho might be moving on soon, but unless they sell them this summer FDJ would probably have to play further forward, which is where he's done ok but not shone at Barca...

It would be a huge vanity signing for the new owner, especially if they then don't get in players in the positions they are genuinely short on at the moment.

United might not have UCL this season, but he'd instantly be our best CM and start in his favoured position, in a system he already knows suits his game.

To be honest, I still think it's more likely he'll stay at Barcelona than sign for Chelsea.

 

[sugar_kane]

I think first and foremost I'd just say more choice. Manchester has amazing restaurants, London just has more. Manchester has high end stores, London just has more. Manchester has exclusive, high end nightclubs, London just has more. London is better connected to the rest of the world, transport-wise. London has better galleries and a broader choice of cultural options more generally (theatre, opera, ballet etc). Again, I'm not knocking manchester at all - I love the city - it's just that London has more choice in pretty much every area.

Again I don't disagree with a single word of what you've said (although I would say Manchester is pretty well connected to most of the world) but how do all these things truly affect a Premier League footballer?

They can't spend all their time in nightclubs, most of them have probably never seen a ballet in their life. The restaurants sure, but as you've said Manchester has plenty of choice and is always getting better and there is a limit to how often footballers can spend in these places when they should be focusing on their professional life.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

The club doesn’t learn. If Chelsea get him everything I have put in this thread and have been vilified for by others will be justified.

You are a hero.

 

[pocco]

What I think will happen. He'll go Chelsea, unless Bayern step in which I think is very much possible. He'd suit them well.

We'll leave the CM position (we have essentially added Eriksen, Savage, Iqbal & Garner) where we will get by, to an extent, for a season whilst assessing these youngsters. Who happen to look really good. We'll go all in and sign Antony plus Sesko or another CF. Ronaldo will eventually leave.

 

[Brownie85]

I think this is likely. People are deluded if they think the club will brief that they are walking away from the FDJ deal at this stage, because the fans all know what it will mean and they will look incompetent. Sometimes you've got to read between the lines, something many posters in here seem incapable of doing.



Chelsea also have a very good coach and a better team. More chance of winning stuff there right now.



He's tied himself in all sorts of knots and is trying to weasel his way out, as per. 'Sorry I didn't mean to type that whole sentence, it's not what I really think'

But they're also not going to stay involved if they believe that he's going to go to Chelsea, as the fans will see that as he rejected us. Walking away would allow United to spin any excuse as to why they walked away. If they stay in for him and he chooses Chelsea, then it's going to look a lot worse in my opinion

 

[MUFC OK]

So his priority is he wants to stay at Barca but if that changes and he wants to leave, do we have the upper hand against Chelsea?

No, by reports he would rather play CL for Chelsea and live in London. Was dismissed by many as being @Sport propaganda but now backed up by the reputable The Athletic.

 

[OrcaFat]

The Neves links as the alternative really concern me tbh, would be typical United paying over the odds for an average 'PL proven' player just due to familiarity.

Fabian Ruiz is right there with less than a year left on his contract

I quite like the look of Ruiz from what I have seen. He’s not really what we need most.

We need a calm, positionally intelligent, creative passer. But while we’re at it we need an aggressive, disciplined, warrior type. That’s our midfield two. Ruiz doesn’t fit either profile, he looks like a cross between Fred and McT with a little Bruno thrown in. He’s a good player but he’s not what we need.

 

[Hoof the ball]

What is it with us and always getting absolutely spanked by Chelsea over transfer targets? We won, like, one vs. them, and Lukaku at that. Feck sake.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

I quite like the look of Ruiz from what I have seen. He’s not really what we need most.

We need a calm, positionally intelligent, creative passer. But while we’re at it we need an aggressive, disciplined, warrior type. That’s our midfield two. Ruiz doesn’t fit either profile, he looks like a cross between Fred and McT with a little Bruno thrown in. He’s a good player but he’s not what we need.

Isn't this what he is? From what I've seen people say about him and his stats he fits that description except maybe positional intelligent

 

[OrcaFat]

But they're also not going to stay involved if they believe that he's going to go to Chelsea, as the fans will see that as he rejected us. Walking away would allow United to spin any excuse as to why they walked away. If they stay in for him and he chooses Chelsea, then it's going to look a lot worse in my opinion

Yeah but if we are walking away, the best way to save face is to say nothing and just sign someone else. When the phone rings from Barca, just don’t answer it.

 

[Adam-Utd]

If you are lucky more like 60-90 mins

Definitely traffic dependant

 

[Mickeza]

 

[hellhunter]

No, by reports he would rather play CL for Chelsea and live in London. Was dismissed by many as being @Sport propaganda but now backed up by the reputable The Athletic.

Not really

No one knows his preference if he leaves Barcelona, but it's not outlandish to think he might prefer CL and London to ETH

 

[JPRouve]

No, by reports he would rather play CL for Chelsea and live in London. Was dismissed by many as being @Sport propaganda but now backed up by the reputable The Athletic.

There is nothing reputable about the Athletic when it comes to Football, they hired a bunch of hacks that we used to not trust. Now Ornstein is a good reporter but he said nothing about De Jong's preferences.

 

[the_cliff]

I think this is likely. People are deluded if they think the club will brief that they are walking away from the FDJ deal at this stage, because the fans all know what it will mean and they will look incompetent. Sometimes you've got to read between the lines, something many posters in here seem incapable of doing.

I mentioned this about a week ago. As if the club will release a statement that we're no longer interested in signing FDJ when we've chased him all summer. We'll know when we've initiated contacts for other midfielders.

 

[Brownie85]

Yeah but if we are walking away, the best way to save face is to say nothing and just sign someone else. When the phone rings from Barca, just don’t answer it.

We'd know pretty quick if that was happening as we'd see us making contact for other players (hopefully).
Still, ten Hag must still be pretty confident that he'll get him, and i can imagine he's contacted him to see the state of play, but who knows.

 

[pocco]

But they're also not going to stay involved if they believe that he's going to go to Chelsea, as the fans will see that as he rejected us. Walking away would allow United to spin any excuse as to why they walked away. If they stay in for him and he chooses Chelsea, then it's going to look a lot worse in my opinion

We'll sign somebody else, get the fans excited about that, then start hearing murmurs of business being finished for this summer. Probably stories about how the club see huge potential in Iqbal/Savage etc and believe their accelerated progress has pushed them into the first team picture.

Honestly, imagine the optics now if we declared ourselves out. We had to do it ages ago for us to come away with any credibility.

 

[Dazzmondo]

Ok. Now we panic

Always liked Neves...

 

[Shinjch]

Will be a sign that not much has changed with the recruitment higher ups at the club, Chelsea have struggled with targets all summer which will make it look extra bad if they come in and take our number 1 target after we have messed around for a couple of months.

Does not bode well for the new regime at all.

 

[Member 122739]

Do people really care about "how it looks"? If we get him, then we get him and if we don't, move on. I've been a United fan for 34 years and in that time I've seen plenty turn us down - Lineker, Gazza, Shearer, Kluivert, Kewell etc.... I really couldn't give two shits about what people unconnected with United think, I don't really care what a lot of people with United think either.

 

[Solius]

How would Chelsea get around the 17m wages problem? Surely they'd hit the same roadblock as us?

 

[OrcaFat]

Isn't this what he is? From what I've seen people say about him and his stats he fits that description except maybe positional intelligent

I think he’s more a marauder from what I’ve seen. He is very good, of course, but the thing we’re really lacking is the positional discipline and tactical control of the midfield.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

If it was a simple as Chelsea just coming in for him then our new manager is an absolute moron, so at this point I still refuse to believe that.

Chelsea or United, there’s still the massive 17m euro question.

Think United will react to this by buckling and paying Barca whatever they want to sort his wage issue.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Changed my vote. This is now an embarrassment to the club. The futile chase of a player all transfer window having weakened an already weak midfield is just shambolic. Barcelona and Chelsea are obviously more attractive destinations for a player right now, the club really need to identify and target some alternatives quick. Another season starting with Fred and McTominay will really hurt our chances to achieve anything.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Well, that really won't look great at all will it if he ends up there having chased him for months. Damn.

 

[Shark]

Abort ship. Getting involved in this circus has completely fecked our transfer window in so many ways. We could have signed two CM's by now.

 

[Posh Red]

How would Chelsea get around the 17m wages problem? Surely they'd hit the same roadblock as us?

They could offer a better wage package to compensate the player maybe. But it sounds like we never even got to that stage with the player, so not sure.

 

[Shakesy]

He's tied himself in all sorts of knots and is trying to weasel his way out, as per. 'Sorry I didn't mean to type that whole sentence, it's not what I really think'

Exactly

Why is it so hard to say sorry?!

 

[pocco]

I mentioned this about a week ago. As if the club will release a statement that we're no longer interested in signing FDJ when we've chased him all summer. We'll know when we've initiated contacts for other midfielders.

Yeah, there's no way. It had to be done when we set these supposed deadlines. Then we look like a club that isn't going to be a pushover. I said it a while ago too and was bombarded by people that thought otherwise. It's almost some entitlement they believe they have to know every inner working. The club isn't pandering to people that spend all day on a forum micro-analysing every move and tweet. They don't want the millions to think we look like idiots and will brush this one under the carpet. Unless we end up giving Frenkie a tonne of money now to make it happen, which is also a possibility knowing our apparent desperation.

 

[Castia]

There must have been a point where we agreed a fee weeks ago that they arranged the 'next step' right?

What I mean is we agreed a fee and obviously haven't just sat in Manchester doing nothing, we must have had verbal contact with FdJ and Barcelona or else we would have pulled out of the deal. The moment he went on tour was the moment we should have known he didn't want to come, nobody goes on tour and plays games for a club after a fee was agreed.

 

[OrcaFat]

We'd know pretty quick if that was happening as we'd see us making contact for other players (hopefully).
Still, ten Hag must still be pretty confident that he'll get him, and i can imagine he's contacted him to see the state of play, but who knows.

Yeah, I still think ETH will probably be up-to-date with what the player wants. I was just thinking that we fans might be the last to know.

 

[Traub]

I mentioned this about a week ago. As if the club will release a statement that we're no longer interested in signing FDJ when we've chased him all summer. We'll know when we've initiated contacts for other midfielders.

We briefed the media when we pulled out of the Griezmann transfer, I imagine something similar will happen here.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

It's ok if we miss out on FdJ but landing Neves as the alternative would really be disappointing.