No he did not. He's literally said at the end of the season he was staying at Ajax.
Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap
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ETH and FDJ talk I'm very sure the club wouldn't chase FDJ if it was a dead end.
Yes, yes he did.
He was open to following EtH to United and after a conversation with van Gaal, he changed his mind. It's widely reported thats what happened??
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No that did not happen. I even doubt a right footed CB was anywhere near the top of our list.
This is tabloid narrative.
Do you have any proof that it did not happen?
Aside from the whole he said he was staying, which as we know is worth absolutely nothing in todays game
It quite obviously happened
Do you have proof a football weighing 1000 metric tons isn't about to crush your house in the next 5 seconds?
I don't need to prove a negative, let alone an improbable one.
link a credible report. I can link you his interview in which he stated he's staying.
The same tabloid nonsense linked Gravenberch to multiple clubs last year, when he had said exactly the same in an end of season interview.
Yes I am sure they do, then it would help if ETH were to say "Frenkie just make a public announcement, that if you cannot stay are Barc you want to come to United, otherwise I am going to look like a real prat.... and the season hasn't started yet!"
Even Saha came out critisized Timber for his u-turn saying he wasn't strong enough!
Timber was told by van Gaal that his world cup chances would be harmed if he went to United. Shortly after that the deal collapsed and Timber decided he wanted to stay at Ajax. Continue to deny it, thats fine, but it obviously happened
Ah yes you continue to say about the interview where he says he's staying. I could link you to an interview where Ronaldo said he's staying this season and looking forward to next season. I could also link you to loads of interviews in the past of players who said they're staying but then left. You take everything at face value it seems
I doubt ETH cares about what our e-fanbase thinks. He’s here to do a job.
I imagine FDJ saying that would weaken his position with Barca.
Frankie great player but there’s bad vibes of it. This saga has go on for far too long and reached such a stage where I wouldn't even feel happy if it happens.
You can be linked to the most creditble Ajax reporter and who reported it
In North America yes but not sure if it's caught on in the same manner in Europe yet.
Tik Tok has been the greatest godsend imaginable for the CCP intelligence service
That's why I said *opinion*.
Ah all good, just find it funny is all.
That's what journalists do, they investigate, gauge opinions and write pieces on the back of that, hardly catching anything.
You wouldn’t have been around when a poster here made up a rumour about Kaka joining United and we all ran with it. Didn’t take long to see it in papers, radio sport news and Italian press
I’ve also seen my words reproduced in tabloids
they are just lazy buggers
Yes but those players genuinely wanted to come, it was spurs and arsenal that were the issue. This is a combination of both Barca being in a mess, and the player not really being keen. I don't recall Fergie chasing for players that weren't hungry for united.
Some of you have so much faith in ETH's pull for his former players, that you forget these players also have their own motivations and futures to worry about.
Yeah but Tik Tok is very much an under 15 thing, there's some catchment in older groups also but they have a young audience. The more mature user of social media is mostly Insta these days.
They wouldn't happen to be........... Di Maria vibes would they?!?!
Nope, definitely not. Don’t know what you’re talking about! To be fair, if he looked at United and decided he'd give it 12 months before considering a move to our basket case you can't really blame him, draw or not from former manager. He might like Ten Hag, but he might be managing Dortmund by the start of next season.
Goldbridge is very well connected. You have to assume he knows as much as any journalist given he has had most of them on his shows and is likely on WhatsApp groups with them as well as ex footballers like Ince.
You said changing his opinion. Changed it from what?
His earlier piece was a club brief, not his opinion.
Did we have windows then? I thought they came early 2000s?
Let me guess? Marcel van der Kraan? Hes not a credible Ajax reporter. He's just riding the wave of attention by gullible people through the Dutch connection.
Yes, I'm aware of the tabloid narrative. This has not been credibly reported. Advanced interest in Timber has never been credibly reported.
This only happened in the daily mail universe.
Neither of you have provided any evidence for this story. Not one link.
But let's call it a 50-50. 'Cause I can't prove that it didn't happen, right?
Fergie chased Patrick Kluivert until the final weeks of the transfer window and got rejected by the player who joined his former head coach, LVG at Barca. Fergie chased Alan Shearer twice and on both occasions he turned us down according to Shearer himself.
And as far as I know, de Jong is more than willing to join us but the issue is with the player and his current club regarding a issue outside of United's control.
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That's correct, but most teams weren't going to sell their best players during the season. So signing someone like Patrick Kluivert in 1998 wasn't going to be possible during the season from Ajax hence Fergie put in a concerted effort to sign him in 1998.
Feel like a broken record but I trust United, Barca, Xavi, FdJ are sensible, rational actors and that is why I expect this to happen eventually.
1. Xavi is not changing his whole system to play to FdJ's strengths. 4-3-3 with a deep lying playmaker like Busquets / Rodri is the Barca / Pep way. FdJ doesn't fit into that model.
2. FdJ is not great at the RCM / LCM positions even if Xavi shoehorns him in there. This requires him to not get involved in build up and take a position between the lines and try to wait for the ball taking away one of his biggest strengths.
3. Barca would much rather have a guy like Bilva who would play that role incredibly well and someone who'd fit into their wage structure. FdJ's wages stick out like a sore thumb in the FCB wage chart.
4. FdJ is pretty pissed at how Barca have been treating him, so there's no love lost there. All of this I'm staying in Barca nonsense is negotiating tactics.
5. United / ETH aren't going to waste an entire summer on a wild goose chase. The simplest explanation is that EtH has some assurances from FdJ that he'll move. The explanation most people want to believe here is that everyone dealing with this transfer on the United side are idiots. Occam's razor and all that.
The only thing holding up an 85M transfer that's beneficial for everyone involved is about 15M-ish that FdJ feels he's owed. I am certain that both sides will negotiate hard (as they should) but the transfer makes too much sense for it to not go through.
1. Xavi is not changing his whole system to play to FdJ's strengths. 4-3-3 with a deep lying playmaker like Busquets / Rodri is the Barca / Pep way. FdJ doesn't fit into that model.
2. FdJ is not great at the RCM / LCM positions even if Xavi shoehorns him in there. This requires him to not get involved in build up and take a position between the lines and try to wait for the ball taking away one of his biggest strengths.
3. Barca would much rather have a guy like Bilva who would play that role incredibly well and someone who'd fit into their wage structure. FdJ's wages stick out like a sore thumb in the FCB wage chart.
4. FdJ is pretty pissed at how Barca have been treating him, so there's no love lost there. All of this I'm staying in Barca nonsense is negotiating tactics.
5. United / ETH aren't going to waste an entire summer on a wild goose chase. The simplest explanation is that EtH has some assurances from FdJ that he'll move. The explanation most people want to believe here is that everyone dealing with this transfer on the United side are idiots. Occam's razor and all that.
The only thing holding up an 85M transfer that's beneficial for everyone involved is about 15M-ish that FdJ feels he's owed. I am certain that both sides will negotiate hard (as they should) but the transfer makes too much sense for it to not go through.
But that's the thing. When Timber told Ten Hag no he didn't insist we keep pushing things with Ajax we immediately moved on we haven't done that with Frenkie for a reason.
It's simply not a valid argument to suggest Frenkie is flat out lying to his former manager about being open to reunite with him for some sinister plan none of us know about. We'd have simply gone for someone else
Every reliable source mentioned that we are in for Timber before basically anyone else. Then it went quiet after LVG's comments and the news broke a couple of days later that he decided to stay at Ajax because of the World Cup. And we instantly moved onto Martínez. This was clearly not a made-up rumor by the likes of The Sun, Metro, etc.
The mirror...
Here's what likely happened with Timber:
He wanted to stay (per his own words)
Tabloid machine linked us with him 'cause he's Dutch and sexy.
He was probably somewhere on ETH's list. A right footed CB would never be at the top for ETH. Possibly he wants him at a later point.
Timber and his camp didnt want to deny the interest because they were in negotiations with Ajax. Hence the meeting in London.
Media/Tabloids/Goldshite that pushed this story ran on the "Van Gaal dissuaded him" narrative, because it hides the fact they pulled the Timber links out of their ass and it's juicy.
Malacia's in the identicial situation for Holland and he's here.
No reliable sources reported advanced interest. ETH always plays with a left footed CB, so the links with Timber belong in the "linked because of Ajax/nationality category".
Hirst said we’d opened talks with Ajax for him. There’s no reason to pretend we weren’t obviously interested in him.
You wouldn’t have been around when a poster here made up a rumour about Kaka joining United and we all ran with it. Didn’t take long to see it in papers, radio sport news and Italian press
I’ve also seen my words reproduced in tabloids
they are just lazy buggers
MEN lifts rumours out of Redcafe threads. Whatever wish is trendy around March-April, ends up being a target of United in late May-early June according to MEN or Talksport sources.
Ok Hirst reported it, my guess is based on the meeting in London. I still don't believe it. The high tier Ajax journos (Vi and Verweij) were incredibly silent.
Mike Verweij and Mullock did mention our interest in Timber though
Speaking about Timber does he actually get in the first XI before De Ligt or Van Dijk? Think he might be surprised by how little game time he gets at the WC...
No not Van Der Kraan. I said credibleLet me guess? Marcel van der Kraan? Hes not a credible Ajax reporter. He's just riding the wave of attention by gullible people through the Dutch connection.
Yes, I'm aware of the tabloid narrative. This has not been credibly reported. Advanced interest in Timber has never been credibly reported.
This only happened in the daily mail universe.
Neither of you have provided any evidence for this story. Not one link.
But let's call it a 50-50. 'Cause I can't prove that it didn't happen, right?
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