Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Their exact position on the pitch is different from the role they serve within the team. If Fred is #8, then you need a very different #6 than FdJ. If De Jong is #6, you need a very different #8 than Fred. Basically if you have De Jong, you want a Kante type to be your #8. If Fred is your #8, we want a Tchouameni type to be our #6. Ten Hag used Lasse Schone next to him in 2018/19 who is a much more reserved player. Van de Beek was the 10 that year too. De Jong if anything had the most freedom despite being in the deeper role.

Just because one player plays as a deeper midfielder or in the #6 position in a specific team and another plays as an 8, doesn't mean they would operate the same roles would they be in the same team. Fred isn't anywhere near secure enough defensively or positionally to work next to Frenkie de Jong. We'd be incredibly easy to play through. It's the same reason why Ruben Neves next to Fred would be a not good idea. They aren't defensive mids.

My point was trying to tell you that FDJ wouldn't replace Fred because neither play the same role and position. There are 10x better chance of FDJ plays as no 6 with Fred as no 8 than FDJ replaces Fred in no 8 role in ETH system.

 

[RedRonaldo]

With 150m spending budget this summer, I could imagine ETH would go for De Jong (60m), Antony (50m) and Timber (40m) as his top priority. All tested and proven under his system, young and talented too, would make perfect sense.

 

[ManRed]

With 150m spending budget this summer, I could imagine ETH would go for De Jong (60m), Antony (50m) and Timber (40m) as his top priority. All tested and proven under his system, young and talented too, would make perfect sense.

Add Kamara and Nunez in there and I will call it a great summer

 

[RedRonaldo]

Add Kamara and Nunez in there and I will call it a great summer

Kamara would be good as he is free, but I wonder we may not be the only club interest, there would be lots of competitions out there.

Nunez would cost a lot, I’ve heard Benfica wants 120m? from him. Also, Klopp is interested on signing him for Liverpool as reported, no brainer which club would he choose really.

 

[Bebestation]

With 150m spending budget this summer, I could imagine ETH would go for De Jong (60m), Antony (50m) and Timber (40m) as his top priority. All tested and proven under his system, young and talented too, would make perfect sense.

This would be a horrible start personally for me.

Ten Hag on his first season targeting only Ajax players would make me doubt some of his managerial ability.

 

[reddevilz007]

This would be a horrible start personally for me.

Ten Hag on his first season targeting only Ajax players would make me doubt some of his managerial ability.

Horrible start, yet they’re all better than our current options.

 

[RedRonaldo]

This would be a horrible start personally for me.

Ten Hag on his first season targeting only Ajax players would make me doubt some of his managerial ability.

Why risk other untested signings when we only have limited funds to spend while the club may have expected him to attain top 4 finish with the pile of shits we have got? Not to mention those players he targeted could be top class signings too.

Imagine if Pep joined us and brought along De Bruyne, Foden and Dias, would you feel it’s horrible start too?

Or he should spend 150m all on Rice, that would be truly horrible start.

 

[In Rainbows]

This would be a horrible start personally for me.

Ten Hag on his first season targeting only Ajax players would make me doubt some of his managerial ability.

I think it makes sense. Get players who already buy into your ideas so that it influences some of the players, and helps translate Ten Hag's system onto the pitch faster.

I will say that Ten Hag has been able to translate performances onto the CL so the worry over those players not being able to make the step up should be different from other transfers (normal step ups in league difficulty).

 

[Bebestation]

Why risk other untested signings when we only have limited funds to spend while the club may have expected him to attain top 4 finish with the pile of shits we have got? Not to mention those players he targeted could be top class signings too.

Imagine if Pep joined us and brought along De Bruyne, Foden and Dias, would you feel it’s horrible start too?

Or he should spend 150m all on Rice, that would be truly horrible start.

Who did Pep bring to City from Barcelona or Bayern?

Who did Klopp bring from Dortmund to Liverpool? A good manager can adapt his players to his tactics.

I can understand Frenkie de Jong but having Van de Beek, Antony and Timber on top of that is a bit OTT for me.

Anyway, apart from one or two at max I don't really see it happening anyway so I'm not worried about it.

What I would do for him to target someone like Gvardiol instead of Timber is a big boost of confidence for me.

 

[The Boy]

Who did Pep bring to City from Barcelona or Bayern?

I can understand Frenkie de Jong but having Van de Beek, Antony and Timber on top of that is a bit OTT for me.

Anyway, apart from one or two at max I don't really see it happening anyway so I'm not worried about it.

What I would do for him to target someone like Gvardiol instead of Timber is a big boost of confidence for me.

De Jong would be a great buy but honestly I can not see him leaving Barca. Timber is young untested and currently a bit over rated imo (though that doesn't mean he wont be a good player, we just don't know at the moment and he's too young to be the answer to shoring up United's defence). So my guess would be if anyone comes from Ajax it would just be Antony.

VdB will be interesting no one has got a tune out of him so far in the prem, so ETH can revive him it'll be a real feather in his cap.

 

[tenpoless]

Who did Pep bring to City from Barcelona or Bayern?

I can understand Frenkie de Jong but having Van de Beek, Antony and Timber on top of that is a bit OTT for me.

Anyway, apart from one or two at max I don't really see it happening anyway so I'm not worried about it.

What I would do for him to target someone like Gvardiol instead of Timber is a big boost of confidence for me.

It doesnt matter which clubs did the players come from or their nationality. What matters is they are talented enough to play for a big club, buy into the manager's vision and willing to work hard to achieve it. The manager should also be judged by the improvements he made and results he achieved, not the clubs he brought his players from.

 

[sherrinford]

Schone played next to him in a double pivot to provide defensive stability without the ball. FdJ was the first functioning midfielder on the ball and slotted in as the additional CB to help build play from the back.

FdJ would again be the first functioning midfielder in possession next to Tchouameni. But Tchouameni would be the primary DM in the defensive transition in a compact high block. So unlike at Barca where Busquets is the first functioning midfielder, de Jong would be the first functioning midfielder on the ball at United in the hypothetical midfield 3 I've put forth.

I don't agree. Schone lined up next to him in order to best accomodate and encourage De Jong's ability to escape pressure or attack space and break an opponents defensive structure carrying the ball. When they lost possession the entire unit was ultra-aggressive - and highly impressive - with their pressing. They certainly didn't wait for Schone to drop in to De Jong's position as the deepest midfielder, reacting instantaneously and pressing from the structure that the team was already set up in.

The most defensively secure player does not have to be the deepest midfielder when the team is out of possession. David Pizarro with De Rossi. Thiago with Goretzka. Jorginho with Kante. An older and physically shot Scholes played in front of the back four last time I was at Old Trafford way back in 2011. Most prominently of course, Pirlo spent a career behind his midfield teammates and was a defensive liability.

I've never seen Tchouameni, but based on what I've read here it would seem he would actually be a good compliment to De Jong, but because of his apparent ability to operate in more of a box to box capacity as opposed to his ability to play in the anchoring position. Your proposed tactical setup doesn't sound plausible, as you are asking two midfielders to essentially switch position in transition while simultaneously looking for an immediate collective effort to close down high up the pitch.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Who did Pep bring to City from Barcelona or Bayern?

Who did Klopp bring from Dortmund to Liverpool? A good manager can adapt his players to his tactics.

I can understand Frenkie de Jong but having Van de Beek, Antony and Timber on top of that is a bit OTT for me.

Anyway, apart from one or two at max I don't really see it happening anyway so I'm not worried about it.

What I would do for him to target someone like Gvardiol instead of Timber is a big boost of confidence for me.

Well don’t you see Pep already inherited a great squad in Bayern? They just won treble before Pep took over! It’s not like he has to spend alot to rebuild or anything. They are already the best team in Europe.

While at City, they are super rich anyway, and one of the best team in England before Pep took over. The style over there is already similar to Pep possession football, so there’s not much fundamental fixing need to be done. He could also spend and buy any players he wants, and he did spend a lot.

We are at tight budget, and we don’t have CL next season, and we have huge pile of shit to fix, and we are going to change to completely different style of football. It’s totally different story here.

It’s better to bring the players he trusted first, easier to implement his system here, then when we have extra funds to spend, he could buy players elsewhere who he think would fit. But now, we have too much shite to fix, and we can’t afford too many risk to take.

 

[Bebestation]

Well don’t you see Pep already inherited a great squad in Bayern? They just won treble before Pep took over! It’s not like he has to spend alot to rebuild or anything. They are already the best team in Europe.

While at City, they are super rich anyway, and one of the best team in England before Pep took over. The style over there is already similar to Pep possession football, so there’s not much fundamental fixing need to be done. He could also spend and buy any players he wants, and he did spend a lot.

We are at tight budget, and we don’t have CL next season, and we have huge pile of shit to fix, and we are going to change to completely different style of football. It’s totally different story here.

It’s better to bring the players he trusted first, easier to implement his system here, then when we have extra funds to spend, he could buy players elsewhere who he think would fit. But now, we have too much shite to fix, and we can’t afford too many risk to take.

Dortmund players at Liverpool because Klopp wanted to speed up the build up process?

I didn't see that either.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Dortmund players at Liverpool because Klopp wanted to speed up the build up process?

I didn't see that either.

Dortmund isn’t necessary a better team with better players than Liverpool though, and I don’t think Liverpool was as disjointed and as desperate as us looking for complete change.

 

[PepG]

Pep did bring Thiago Alcantara from Barcelona to Bayern and took Claudio Bravo from Barcelona to City but thats not the point. I agree with Bebestation that buying your former players to make your system work at a new club is not the best thing you could do as a start of your career there. Just look at LVG and what he did back in Barcelona in the 90s. He basically decided that Barca players are not good enough to play his system and transferred half of his former Ajax players. It didnt work out as he expected though. I am pretty sure that DVB will be the only Ten Hag's player in United's squad at the start of the new season. After that if fine tuning of the system is needed he can go back to some of his former players, like he did with Haller (who he coached at Utrecht) at Ajax.

 

[Adnan]

I don't agree. Schone lined up next to him in order to best accomodate and encourage De Jong's ability to escape pressure or attack space and break an opponents defensive structure carrying the ball. When they lost possession the entire unit was ultra-aggressive - and highly impressive - with their pressing. They certainly didn't wait for Schone to drop in to De Jong's position as the deepest midfielder, reacting instantaneously and pressing from the structure that the team was already set up in.

The most defensively secure player does not have to be the deepest midfielder when the team is out of possession. David Pizarro with De Rossi. Thiago with Goretzka. Jorginho with Kante. An older and physically shot Scholes played in front of the back four last time I was at Old Trafford way back in 2011. Most prominently of course, Pirlo spent a career behind his midfield teammates and was a defensive liability.

I've never seen Tchouameni, but based on what I've read here it would seem he would actually be a good compliment to De Jong, but because of his apparent ability to operate in more of a box to box capacity as opposed to his ability to play in the anchoring position. Your proposed tactical setup doesn't sound plausible, as you are asking two midfielders to essentially switch position in transition while simultaneously looking for an immediate collective effort to close down high up the pitch.

The entire unit was aggressive hence why I constantly make mention of coaches who implement a compact high block. And ten Hag is amongst those coaches who sacrifices defensive stability for goals in a compact high block.

Did I say they waited for Schone to drop into de Jong's position? I obviously never said that, but Schone was positionally the more disciplined player next to de Jong, which allowed de Jong to make forays forward. You've actually responded by agreeing with what I originally said. Schone was converted into a more disciplined midfielder by ten Hag to accommodate de Jong.

i also never said the most defensively secure midfielder needs to be the deepest midfielder out of possession. In ten Hag's system the most advanced central attacker could end up as the deepest midfielder out of possession. And that's due to positional rotation.

If i'm not mistaken, I was the first poster to bring up Tchouameni on this forum. And a potential de Jong/Tchouameni pairing is very compatible. And Tchouameni is more than capable of operating as a box to box midfielder or even as we've recently seen where Clement has utilised him as a single pivot in a 4-1-4-1 formation.

 

[We need an rvn]

With 150m spending budget this summer, I could imagine ETH would go for De Jong (60m), Antony (50m) and Timber (40m) as his top priority. All tested and proven under his system, young and talented too, would make perfect sense.

I agree those signings would improve the squad

My huge concern for me is that we lack leaders on the pitch and the negativity around the place - until that improves, these young players will just get swamped up in all the bad stuff that we need to fix first

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

I for one would be gutted if we brought in De Ligt and Frankie.

white text

 

[Cassidy]

I agree those signings would improve the squad

My huge concern for me is that we lack leaders on the pitch and the negativity around the place - until that improves, these young players will just get swamped up in all the bad stuff that we need to fix first

Good thing we bought Varane and Ronaldo last summer then

 

[Laurencio]

I am not entirely sure why De Jong would come here? Surely there won't be a lack of suitors? Why choose a club in complete disarray which won't be playing in the Champions League for at least a year or challenging for trophies for a good while yet? That seems like a very strange career choice to me, even if Ten Hag is the manager. With a younger player like Tchouameni or Kamara I get it, because they are going to be a risk and therefore less clubs will go after him, but Frenkie De Jong? Surely we'd face competition from someone much more attractive?

 

[jesperjaap]

For those saying three quality signings would be enough for progress.......Varane, Sancho, Ronaldo.............all quality signings and still more holes than a darts board in our first eleven

 

[JB08]

I am not entirely sure why De Jong would come here? Surely there won't be a lack of suitors? Why chose a club in complete disarray which won't be playing in the Champions League for at least a year or challenging for trophies for a good while yet? That seems like a very strange career choice to me, even if Ten Hag is the manager. With a younger player like Tchouameni or Kamara I get it, because they are going to be a risk and therefore less clubs will go after him, but Frenkie De Jong? Surely we'd face competition from someone much more attractive?

Because using the name ‘Manchester United’ generates clicks and revenue for newspapers.

 

[We need an rvn]

Good thing we bought Varane and Ronaldo last summer then

I know what you're saying, and yes, Ronaldo has stepped up and saved us on a number of occasions. On paper they were the leaders we wanted. But I'm talking more about leadership as in the clicks that have been allowed to form that are demoralising, leaks to the press, body language on the pitch. Good leaders wouldn't allow that to happen, the make the team click and gel. I don't see what is happening at United to be allowed to happen at Liverpool, City or Chelsea (or any other club to be honest)

 

[Cassidy]

I know what you're saying, and yes, Ronaldo has stepped up and saved us on a number of occasions. On paper they were the leaders we wanted. But I'm talking more about leadership as in the clicks that have been allowed to form that are demoralising, leaks to the press, body language on the pitch. Good leaders wouldn't allow that to happen, the make the team click and gel. I don't see what is happening at United to be allowed to happen at Liverpool, City or Chelsea (or any other club to be honest)

Good leaders can only do so much. The club and the management have to solve that.
Some players just need getting rid of, it doesnt matter how many leaders you have in the dressing room, its not going to change bad apples behaviour. You have to cull them

Ole was too soft. Ralf had no authority only to bench players. Ten Hag needs to be backed by the club. If he says a player needs to go then they need to go

 

[GBBQ]

This would be a horrible start personally for me.

Ten Hag on his first season targeting only Ajax players would make me doubt some of his managerial ability.

Mourinho brought Carvalho and Ferreira with him to Chelsea and they turned out ok.

Hopefully they are players we've already done our homework on and if both scouts and manager agree that they'd improve the club then I'm fine to trust the manager.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

I am not entirely sure why De Jong would come here? Surely there won't be a lack of suitors? Why choose a club in complete disarray which won't be playing in the Champions League for at least a year or challenging for trophies for a good while yet? That seems like a very strange career choice to me, even if Ten Hag is the manager. With a younger player like Tchouameni or Kamara I get it, because they are going to be a risk and therefore less clubs will go after him, but Frenkie De Jong? Surely we'd face competition from someone much more attractive?

They said the same about Pogba, he came.

Aguero went to City when they were shite, KdB when they weren’t all that, Silva too.

Champions League and currently being a top side means less than people think, a project, a manager and money weigh much more heavily. If he really enjoyed working with ETH, feels like his best football is with ETH, is sold on a project and gets a shit load of money, of course, just like with Pogba, it could interest him.
Personally I doubt it’d happen because I think he’d still be too expensive for what ETH will want to do with the side this Summer.

 

[Cassidy]

This would be a horrible start personally for me.

Ten Hag on his first season targeting only Ajax players would make me doubt some of his managerial ability.

Smart manager when completely overhauling a playinh style, brings players who already know the system and can act as his coaches on the pitch

 

[tidraKS]

This would be a horrible start personally for me.

Ten Hag on his first season targeting only Ajax players would make me doubt some of his managerial ability.

Jose Mourinho brought Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira with him from Porto in his first Chelsea season, and a total of 4 Portuguese players. They proved to be just great. De Jong and Antony would be just really great transfers in my eyes, wouldn't go for Timber (I think he's really young and also a short for the Premier League).

 

[sullydnl]

I am not entirely sure why De Jong would come here? Surely there won't be a lack of suitors? Why choose a club in complete disarray which won't be playing in the Champions League for at least a year or challenging for trophies for a good while yet? That seems like a very strange career choice to me, even if Ten Hag is the manager. With a younger player like Tchouameni or Kamara I get it, because they are going to be a risk and therefore less clubs will go after him, but Frenkie De Jong? Surely we'd face competition from someone much more attractive?

First and foremost, money. We pay players a lot.

But from a footballing side of things, there's also a lot to be said for knowing the manager and knowing how you're going to fit into the side he's building. Especially if you feel you've been slightly misused over the previous few years.

 

[RedRonaldo]

I agree those signings would improve the squad

My huge concern for me is that we lack leaders on the pitch and the negativity around the place - until that improves, these young players will just get swamped up in all the bad stuff that we need to fix first

That would take a few more windows when we replace all bad blood with new players who are willing to learn to play under ETH system. We won’t fix that next season, we have too many toxic lazy player in our squad.

 

[golden_blunder]

The entire unit was aggressive hence why I constantly make mention of coaches who implement a compact high block. And ten Hag is amongst those coaches who sacrifices defensive stability for goals in a compact high block.

Did I say they waited for Schone to drop into de Jong's position? I obviously never said that, but Schone was positionally the more disciplined player next to de Jong, which allowed de Jong to make forays forward. You've actually responded by agreeing with what I originally said. Schone was converted into a more disciplined midfielder by ten Hag to accommodate de Jong.

i also never said the most defensively secure midfielder needs to be the deepest midfielder out of possession. In ten Hag's system the most advanced central attacker could end up as the deepest midfielder out of possession. And that's due to positional rotation.

If i'm not mistaken, I was the first poster to bring up Tchouameni on this forum. And a potential de Jong/Tchouameni pairing is very compatible. And Tchouameni is more than capable of operating as a box to box midfielder or even as we've recently seen where Clement has utilised him as a single pivot in a 4-14-1 formation.

Cheating surely

 

[RedRonaldo]

Pep did bring Thiago Alcantara from Barcelona to Bayern and took Claudio Bravo from Barcelona to City but thats not the point. I agree with Bebestation that buying your former players to make your system work at a new club is not the best thing you could do as a start of your career there. Just look at LVG and what he did back in Barcelona in the 90s. He basically decided that Barca players are not good enough to play his system and transferred half of his former Ajax players. It didnt work out as he expected though. I am pretty sure that DVB will be the only Ten Hag's player in United's squad at the start of the new season. After that if fine tuning of the system is needed he can go back to some of his former players, like he did with Haller (who he coached at Utrecht) at Ajax.

We don’t need to buy a lot from Ajax to transfer everything there. But if there are players who could improve us significantly, who are young and talented, and at the same time are familiar with system we are trying to play, why not go for them while we can? Especially if you know someone with great potential, why not? If Ole did bring Haaland to Man Utd back then, do you think it’s a bad thing too? (Regardless of his agent)

It’s not like we are already half way there, we are literally starting everything from scratch now. A few more additions who are familar with system would definitely help us getting there sooner.

De Jong is one of best young midfielder in world, who suit ETH style perfectly. Antony is highly rated by ETH too, who believes he will be great player in future. Timber can play both CB/RB role and is highly rated, I think he would be an upgrade from AWB/Maguire.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

I am not entirely sure why De Jong would come here? Surely there won't be a lack of suitors? Why choose a club in complete disarray which won't be playing in the Champions League for at least a year or challenging for trophies for a good while yet? That seems like a very strange career choice to me, even if Ten Hag is the manager. With a younger player like Tchouameni or Kamara I get it, because they are going to be a risk and therefore less clubs will go after him, but Frenkie De Jong? Surely we'd face competition from someone much more attractive?

Young player should be thinking about longer term project and if he rates ETH, he wouldn't mind without CL for one season if it means playing under a manager that he believes has the quality to win trophies and get the best out of himself, especially considering the fact that he could play with VDB again to form similar or better midfield than the 18/19 Ajax.

So I don't think the CL is the issue here. The reason why he won't come here is because he's Barcelona fan, his dream was always to play for Barcelona and right now he plays for his dream club, if Barcelona was never his dream club then there is a chance that he could choose to play for ETH. Another reason is that considering his age, in logic, Barcelona shouldn't be thinking to sell him but trying to find a way to fit him in to their rebuild squad/team.

 

[Bondi77]

Dortmund players at Liverpool because Klopp wanted to speed up the build up process?

I didn't see that either.

He is smart.....he knew they would not be able to cut it in England.

 

[VanDeBank]

Young player should be thinking about longer term project and if he rates ETH, he wouldn't mind without CL for one season if it means playing under a manager that he believes has the quality to win trophies and get the best out of himself, especially considering the fact that he could play with VDB again to form similar or better midfield than the 18/19 Ajax.

So I don't think the CL is the issue here. The reason why he won't come here is because he's Barcelona fan, his dream was always to play for Barcelona and right now he plays for his dream club, if Barcelona was never his dream club then there is a chance that he could choose to play for ETH. Another reason is that considering his age, in logic, Barcelona shouldn't be thinking to sell him but trying to find a way to fit him in to their rebuild squad/team.

This would mean deviating from the Barca way, because FDJ works best in a double pivot.

It may be easier for them to find the next Busquets with the fee FDJ generates and leave the system as is.

Keeping FDJ means they have to keep shoehorning him in some kind of VDB role and dropping Gavi from midfield if they get a DM to partner him.

It makes sense to let him go from a footballing perspective, we pay good money and we have ten hags.

 

[harms]

Their exact position on the pitch is different from the role they serve within the team. If Fred is #8, then you need a very different #6 than FdJ. If De Jong is #6, you need a very different #8 than Fred. Basically if you have De Jong, you want a Kante type to be your #8. If Fred is your #8, we want a Tchouameni type to be our #6. Ten Hag used Lasse Schone next to him in 2018/19 who is a much more reserved player. Van de Beek was the 10 that year too. De Jong if anything had the most freedom despite being in the deeper role.

Just because one player plays as a deeper midfielder or in the #6 position in a specific team and another plays as an 8, doesn't mean they would operate the same roles would they be in the same team. Fred isn't anywhere near secure enough defensively or positionally to work next to Frenkie de Jong. We'd be incredibly easy to play through. It's the same reason why Ruben Neves next to Fred would be a not good idea. They aren't defensive mids.

What is a Fred type and a Kanté type? Because they're the same type of players, it's just that one is much, much better than the other. They're high octane players that run around non-stop trying to win the ball back and when they got it they can pass it forward/run forward with it but it's not their main task.

You make it sound like Kanté is some kind of Busquets.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

This would mean deviating from the Barca way, because FDJ works best in a double pivot.

It may be easier for them to find the next Busquets with the fee FDJ generates and leave the system as is.

Keeping FDJ means they have to keep shoehorning him in some kind of VDB role and dropping Gavi from midfield if they get a DM to partner him.

It makes sense to let him go from a footballing perspective, we pay good money and we have ten hags.

Barcelona way is similar to Ajax way, I'm not really sure how that would mean deviating from Barca way. FDJ would fit in to replace Busquets by playing next to Kessie who is known with his high work rate and still good defensively. That's up to Xavi.

 

[VP89]

With 150m spending budget this summer, I could imagine ETH would go for De Jong (60m), Antony (50m) and Timber (40m) as his top priority. All tested and proven under his system, young and talented too, would make perfect sense.

De Jong is a no go, not sure why people keep driving this pointless narrative.
Antony been tipped at 70-90m and we aren't even reported by anyone credible to even be interested.
Timber will be more than 40m and recently said he wants another year at Ajax.

 

[Fortitude]

It's a matter of opinion I guess, but you'll be making him a top 5 best paid player in the league hoping for him to go back to his 2019 form.

De Bruyne is on similar wages for comparison. That's the kind of level you expect from a player on those wages, De Jong isn't near that.

You can't possibly believe De Bruyne is on any wage City report, surely?

I can guarantee you that De Bruyne's reported wages are a fraction of what he is actually being paid by the Sheiks. Trying to compare wage bills with Man City is futile because theirs is a work of fiction.

Exactly.