Arsenal enter bid to sign Man United-linked Barcelona midfielder

Despite Frenkie de Jong making it clear that he wishes to stay put at Barcelona beyond the summer, speculations linking him with an exit continue to do the rounds.

Barcelona, for their part, have not definitively ruled out the exit of the 25-year-old as the club find themselves in a precarious financial situation. And should a bid of around €85 million arrive, the Catalans would be open to the prospect of offloading the Dutchman.

Manchester United have been linked the strongest with a move for de Jong. Now managed by Erik ten Hag, who coached the midfielder at Ajax, the Red Devils are leaving no stone unturned in their pursuit of the Netherlands international.

However, according to Mirror, via SPORT, Manchester United are now set to face competition from Premier League rivals Arsenal in the race to sign de Jong from Barcelona.

De Jong had previously made a statement back in 2019 when he had claimed that he wanted to follow in the pathway of Dutch legend Marc Overmars and go from Ajax to Arsenal and then to Barcelona. However, the 25-year-old skipped a step and ended up joining Barça directly.

Arsenal are now showing an interest in signing the former Ajax prodigy, although any move would be difficult to pull off. Firstly, de Jong has, on multiple occasions, made it clear that he wishes to continue at Camp Nou.

On top of that, if he were to move, the Netherlands star would want to play in the Champions League. But neither Manchester United nor Arsenal have qualified for Europe’s premier competition for the upcoming season.

So, even though Barcelona have not exactly closed the door on an exit for de Jong, it will take massive efforts from Arsenal and Manchester United to convince the midfielder to depart in the summer transfer window.