Well, in fairness he's a backup to Verratti, who's light years ahead of anyone he'd be competing with here, presuming the De Jong deal doesnt hapen. He makes a lot of passes per 90 minutes and his accuracy is absolutely top notch. The link up play between Martinez at CB and Paredes at DM would much stronger than what we currently have.
Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap
- Thread starter davidmichael
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I for one won’t mind it one bit. We’ve bought players from more or less every top league in the last 10 years. How has it gone?
I’m seeing no problem in us getting players from the subtop leagues if our manager has a plan with them.
Sure, they will have to adopt to the intensity and pace of football in the PL. But we now have a manager with a very clear philosophy, which should make it easier to pick up upcoming players from the subtop leagues.
I hope we mainly do these type of deals from now on, and stear clear of splonging big fees on established names from the top leagues. We surely have to do this from time to time, but our focus should be to buy tomorrows stars that fit the system we are playing.
Why do you think they're in such a financial mess
I enjoyed the write up Broph.
If and truly if Erik Ten Hag pushed us to negotiate with Barca without De Jong's consent, then all the blame rest on ETH.
We should have moved on a while ago, we should actually be targeting players trying to make the step up and build it gradually from there.
We should have moved on a while ago, we should actually be targeting players trying to make the step up and build it gradually from there.
But have they played for Ajax or for ETH before? You don't know about the super complicated system we are going to play next season? No other player in the world will be able to understand it.
I think for once we’re doing good by being patient and waiting. This signing has more Sancho vibes than the ones we missed out on last minute.
Barca will eventually cave in and agree to pay his deferred wages and let him go.
We’ll end up saving some funds which will be pivotal for us come the end of the transfer window and maybe help us sneak an extra signing in.
Barca will eventually cave in and agree to pay his deferred wages and let him go.
We’ll end up saving some funds which will be pivotal for us come the end of the transfer window and maybe help us sneak an extra signing in.
This is based on your assumption that everyone is dumber than you until proven otherwise.
Why would there be movement on the player side when he is owed 17m in wages?
He’s made clear he has zero intention of renegotiating his wage.
Many sources also have said the relationship with Barça is completely broken.
There was a time when the Dutch league was producing gems on a ridiculous level. When I was a kid there were the likes of Van Basten, Rijkaard and Gullit which were followed by the likes of Davids, RVN, Stam, VDS and co. However those times are gone. Most of the Dutch league products end up being either underwhelming (Depay, VDB) or absolute failures. I have nothing against buying subtop leagues. Considering the many holes we have to fit and our limited budget I can't see us doing otherwise. However relying on just 1 league to do so is risky especially if that league has struggled to produce success stories for the past 5 years. Also we seem to be strengthen roles which aren't first priority (LB, CB and AMC) while ignoring the huge elephant in the room again (DM, CM and STK)
So $17Million > Love.
Ronaldinho, Sheijder, Fabregas, Herrera, Pedri, Sancho... We are ridiculous
If he doesn't wanna come feck him
If he doesn't wanna come feck him
The “love” for Barça is so overblown, blokes not a Catalan, not a youth player, he’s a guy from the Netherlands who’s been there 3 years.
People talk like he’s fecking Iniesta, Gary Neville or Jamie Carragher.
No doubt he’s very fond of the club, and that it was his dream club, but that’s not the same thing.
Are you guys just making stuff up or what? I think all recent rumors were along the lines of if EtH leaves Barca, it'll be for United and not Chelsea.
Please can someone confirm if he has turned up for Barcelona's pre-season.?
Is the 17m they owe him net or gross? If it's net, they'll lose half the transfer fee they'll receive from us.
What's even more wild is, the 22m a season contract is probably also then net. Which I think would be about 40-50m a season gross. Barcelona are mental.
What's even more wild is, the 22m a season contract is probably also then net. Which I think would be about 40-50m a season gross. Barcelona are mental.
Gross.
We really don't know what is and has happened behind the scenes. Even if you believe EtH pushed for the transfer it's possible he could have been given a positive response by FdJ. However, it's possible FdJ could have changed his mind due to circumstances beyond his control.
I can’t recall the last time a drawn out transfer saga like this concluded with us getting the player. Sancho excepted because he ended up coming in a different window.
Either this really is the start of a new era or it was dead weeks ago.
Either this really is the start of a new era or it was dead weeks ago.
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Football is not rocket science or Neurosurgery, I expect technical players looking for a step up to adapt.
It's no assumption, most people are dumber than me, I'm brilliant!
They wouldn't and I think the biggest issue here is that FdJ himself is not too keen to come here.
Why are players still signing for Barca? At this point it must be for the weather? The club is a basket case!
The problem with Barcelona with them reportedly owing FdJ millions is they could end up being negative equity financially this year. This is due to most transfer fees being paid over the length of the players' contracts.
Example: United are going to pay Barcelona 15 million each year for the purchase rights of FdJ's contract over 5 years, which equals 75 million. If stories are to be believed, Barcelona needs to pay FdJ the deferred payment of 17 Million once he moves, obviously that leaves them 2 million in negative equity.
Example: United are going to pay Barcelona 15 million each year for the purchase rights of FdJ's contract over 5 years, which equals 75 million. If stories are to be believed, Barcelona needs to pay FdJ the deferred payment of 17 Million once he moves, obviously that leaves them 2 million in negative equity.
Very likely due to United's unwillingness to pay a higher fee upfront. See my post above.
What I can not understand is why we are not at least talking with other players instead of FDJ - im sure that there are alternatives but nothing is being mentioned anywhere that sounds remotely positive - we just appear desperate with all eggs in one basket - there is no public noise coming from the FDJ side to indicate any desire so I just hope that we have got other options well underway as the whole FDJ drama is now getting very tedious and delaying everything we are doing.
We wanted 5 new players in for the tour. We’ve got 1.
Erikson is not done yet - that’s a possibility although seems to be taking an age. We are squabbling with Ajax over Martinez fee. We’ve got the Ronaldo soap opera to deal with as well. It all looks like a bit of a shambles - why doesn’t anyone from United come out and communicate anything with the fans even if it’s just to say something vague like we are working on several deals - at would at least make them appear less incompetent.
About fecking time.
You could say that about any transfer? Plenty of big money transfers have broken down for a lot less than 17m
Or it could be PSG want to sell and they're using us to drum up interest.
I hope we're looking at other midfielders though, Barca will know we ain't messing around then... or they'll not care, who knows
I find it interesting, that most of you take it for granted Frenkie already decided to leave so long he gets his deffered wages sorted out. I mean is there any statement or behavior from him that suggests something like that? Yes, the clubs negotiate for weeks now, but in my opinion it doesn't necessarily mean he decided already, but keeping his options open.
Many players say or give at least a hint in that direction if they have decided to leave, while Frenkie acts as nothing is happening around him a few days short of his start in barca's pre season. Probably he is now sitting at home and humming:
Darling you''ve got to let me know, should I stay or should I go (...)
Should I stay or should I go now (...)
For me, its a total 50-50 at this point.
Many players say or give at least a hint in that direction if they have decided to leave, while Frenkie acts as nothing is happening around him a few days short of his start in barca's pre season. Probably he is now sitting at home and humming:
Darling you''ve got to let me know, should I stay or should I go (...)
Should I stay or should I go now (...)
For me, its a total 50-50 at this point.
Think Ten Hag should identify a couple of alternative midfielders. They may not be as good as de Jong, but when your options are Fred and McTominay there's huge room for improvement. We don't need world class players to beat spurs to 4th, and it's not like Ajax had a world class midfield but they still played good football. There must be a couple of cm's available who would fit the system. It'd be a lot smarter than messing about with Barca and ending the window empty handed.
We're going to se McFred next season as well, aren't we?
You've answered your own question in that post. FdJ is playing this very intelligently. Basically, letting the clubs decide his fate. This way whatever happens he remains squeaky clean and doesn't break his relationship with either club.
Some deals are very hard to complete. This type of deal is obviously one of them. The problem is the time, since we(fans) want him signed fast and it’s not going to be fast.
We would have walked away if we knew this would not be done. If the deal was dead, we would have informed the usual people in the press.
Enjoy the day and wait for some good updates. It will come soon enough.
We would have walked away if we knew this would not be done. If the deal was dead, we would have informed the usual people in the press.
Enjoy the day and wait for some good updates. It will come soon enough.
No one take it for granted Frenkie already decided to leave. People only take it for granted that Barcelona want and need to sell him due to their financial problem, Frenkie has no choice but to find new club, but at the same time before he is being sold by Barcelona that he wants to make sure Barcelona pays everything what they owe him. It's all depends on Barcelona if they can pay it.
I agree. It's a battle of "who comes out of this looking better". Barca are doing their best to make it look like they're doing all they can to keep de Jong, whilst saying he needs to take a pay cut to stay.
de Jong doesnt want to take another pay cut, and why should he? He wants his money obviously, but he's doing his best not to anger Barca because if a transfer does fail to materialise, and no other club comes in for him, then he's stuck at a club where's he's caused issues for himself.
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