Ten Hag wants to bring the Barcelona midfielder to Old Trafford but there remains a snag in the plan that the player likely needs to sort before a transfer can be complete.
Manchester United have been long-term admirers of the Netherlands international and a guaranteed fee of around £63 million has reportedly been agreed with Barcelona for his services this summer.
With Paul Pogba departing on a free transfer this summer Ten Hag was in need of reinforcements in midfield and he appears to be closing in on a top target.
However, a problem remains. During the pandemic, De Jong, along with the rest of the Barcelona squad, took a pay cut in order to help the club.
But the wages were only meant to be deferred and the 25-year-old is still owed as much as £17 million in payments by the club for that period.
Tuesday night saw the former Ajax ace turn out for Xavi’s side in a pre-season friendly with Inter Miami but play at centre-back rather than his preferred midfield role after being left out of the starting XI.
![Frenkie De Jong](https://goalgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Frenkie-De-Jong.jpg)
This perhaps hints that the Barca legend is planning ahead without De Jong in mind for the 2022-23 season but it remains to be seen whether a deal can be sorted before the transfer window shuts.
It remains to be seen whether De Jong will move to United this summer but the deferred payments are certainly causing a delay to any potential deal.
Reports in Spain also indicate that Barcelona need to sell in order to shift the midfielder’s apparent £250,000-per-week wages from the bill.
But the fact that De Jong is happy to work with Ten Hag again will not doubt act as a significant boost to United moving forward.