13 August 2023 , 14:06
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Frenkie de Jong insists that he wants to be a Barcelona player for the rest of his career, having almost been pushed into joining Manchester United last summer.
The Dutch midfielder was United boss Erik ten Hag's top target for his first transfer window in charge at Old Trafford, but De Jong snubbed the opportunity to link up with his former manager at Ajax. De Jong, 26, dug his heels in to stay at Barca, wwho were keen to offload him due to their well-documented financial issues.
Having previously declared his love for Barcelona on multiple occasions since a transfer was first mooted in the spring of 2022, the Netherlands international has once again gone on record to affirm how disappointed he'd have been if he'd moved on. "I always wanted to be at Barca," De Jong told Catalan news outlet El Periodico ahead of the new season.
"In these first years we had not won the League, nor gone far in the Champions League. We had only won one Copa del Rey. To succeed at Barca I had a lot left.
"And I also saw that the team was improving that summer. High level players arrived. And that's why I wanted to continue. It is the club of my dreams and I want to be here all my life. I didn't want to leave suddenly."
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The 26-year-old went on to explain: "The situation is what it is. Economically, Barca is not at its best moment. And they could get a lot of money for me. Maybe the club thought it was good to sell me and have that money. But I didn't want to leave. It was always clear to me. I did not want to. That's why I was very calm. I had decided."
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Frenkie de Jong wants to stay at Barcelona for the rest of his career (David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)Having got the message that De Jong didn't want to move to Manchester, Ten Hag switched targets and completed a £70million deal to sign Real Madrid stalwart Casemiro. While the Brazilian was a revelation for United in midfield during his first season, the United manager retained interest in signing his former Ajax prodigy.
In February, when Barca were drawn against United in a Europa League last-32 clash, Ten Hag stated: "Frenkie is an incredible player and for every club in the whole world he will strengthen the squad because he has a unique quality.
"If you can get him in the squad your team will be stronger. In Spain he became even better. He's a fantastic player, plays out from the back, he always has time and it was a pleasure to work with him."
He won't get that pleasure again any time soon.