Barcelona could reportedly miss out on the signing of Frenkie de Jong as it’s claimed Paris Saint-Germain are now considered favourites to land his signature.
The 21-year-old has swiftly become one of the most sought-after young talents in Europe as he has continued to impress for Ajax.
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De Jong has now made 50 appearances for the senior side, while he has also been capped four times by the Netherlands to suggest that he has a bright future ahead of him for club and country.
Given his technical quality, composure and classy nature in possession, he seems like an ideal fit for Barcelona. However, alarm bells sounded this week as Sport suggested that the offer from the Catalan giants for both him and teammate Matthijs de Ligt perhaps weren’t appealing enough.
Now it’s reported by De Telegraaf that PSG could be set to take advantage of that by paying €75m for the Dutch midfield starlet which in turn moves them to the front of the queue ahead of Barcelona and Manchester City, who are specifically mentioned as another interested party in the report.
It’s noted that it’s now ‘almost certain’ that De Jong will move to the French capital next summer, but until there is official confirmation from the club, Barca will surely be monitoring the situation and hoping to persuade him to choose otherwise having been linked with a swoop for so long.
Midfield stalwarts such as Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic aren’t getting any younger, and so it could be argued that the La Liga champions need to start thinking long-term.
They seemingly did that with the signing of Arthur this past summer, and De Jong would have been another sensible addition. However, based on the report above, it sounds as though they could now be at real risk of missing out on the Dutch starlet.