Frenkie de Jong opens up about Chelsea, Manchester United rumours

The last summer transfer window was a tumultuous one as far as Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong is considered.

The Catalan club tried hard to force the 25-year-old midfielder out of Spotify Camp Nou if media reports are to be believed as they wished to get rid of his massive wages while also generating funds from his sale.

To that end, Barcelona even had reached an agreement in principle with Manchester United, although the midfielder refused to join his former Ajax manager Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford.

Following that, the Netherlands international courted strong interest from Chelsea as well. But once again, de Jong refused to leave Barcelona as he felt settled at the club and wanted to achieve success in Catalonia.

The midfielder recently revealed in a press conference that he never had any intentions of leaving Barça even though the club had other ideas at one point.

Now further discussing the interest from Manchester United and Chelsea, de Jong told NOS: “I had already decided in May that I wanted to stay. So I was very calm myself.”

The midfielder insisted that he is happy at the club having stayed put and nothing had changed with his teammates either, as he said: “I now feel welcome at the club. Nothing has ever changed with my teammates.”

While he might have remained a Barcelona player, de Jong’s game-time has taken a hit this season. He has started just four of the eight matches that the Blaugrana have played in all competitions.

Speaking about the situation, the Dutchman said: “I didn’t start against Bayern in the Champions League. Still the most important game so far. You want to play important games.”

Netherlands will face Poland in the UEFA Nations League this week, where de Jong will come up against his Barcelona teammate Robert Lewandowski. Talking about the Poland captain, de Jong had the following to say:

“He is very positive, brings a lot of energy and is a super good player. We have good defenders, but of course, the best thing is if he doesn’t get any chances to score.”

The Oranje take on Poland on Thursday and de Jong will be hoping to make the most of the minutes he gets with the national team.