Joan Laporta explains why Barcelona turned down a €100 million bid for Frenkie de Jong. Laporta is the president of the club. Barca turned out a massive offer for De Jong.
Manchester United and Bayern Munich are interested in the Netherlands international.
Earlier this year, De Jong alluded to handling a “situation” involving Laporta.
The reason Barcelona turned down a summertime bid of €100 million (£87.2 million) for midfielder Frenkie de Jong has been disclosed by club president Joan Laporta.
After joining from Ajax in 2019, Dutch sensation De Jong has frequently been connected to a transfer to Manchester United. Knowing full well that the La Liga champions are struggling financially, Bayern Munich reached out to them during the summer to see whether the 26-year-old was open to a transfer.
De Jong is currently in his fifth season as a player for Barcelona, and Laporta informed the general assembly that the team turned down a transfer because of his talent and impressive output.
He declared: “If we don’t do our homework economically, we won’t get better athletically. We had the chance to sell Frenkie de Jong for €100 million, but we decided against it to maintain our competitiveness.”
Recently, De Jong mentioned a “situation” he was in with Laporta while Manchester United’s interest was at its peak, but he maintained that there are no problems between the two.
Despite the club’s purported attempts to get De Jong out of Catalonia in order to free up salary space, the player has never openly declared his wish to leave the region. Man Utd and Barca had agreed on a deal worth €85 million in 2022. During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, De Jong agreed to a pay cut, and the problem of postponed earnings also proved to be a barrier to any possible transfer happening.
De Jong last played in the 3-2 victory over Celta Vigo in September, although he is presently sidelined due to injury. Not only is he the sole Barcelona player injured, but the team that is scheduled to play Athletic Club on Sunday night also without Pedri, Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Kounde, and Sergi Roberto.
Laporta recently asserted that Barca’s accusations by Spanish prosecutors on the Negreira case are partially the fault of rival Real Madrid.
