So, from everything I can see there has never been anything to break down. They were very specific in saying De Jong had to give a green light to even leaving Barca and considering moving before we would even bid officially.
I can find nothing that implies FDJ ever agreed to terms for leaving Barca and joining United. Frankly (pun intended) I think there are a lot of angry people at United who may feel misled by Ten Hag.
The first half of this thread every other post contained the phrase “he MUST know something to be this confident”
But what if Ten Hag would genuinely rather mislead the board and risk missing out on other targets for even a chance at De Jong and he was stubborn enough to think he could will it into existence?
Maybe to Ten Hag there is no great difference between a Tielmans and a Rabiot if he can’t have De Jong.
I highly doubt Ten Hag misled the board.
But its very possible that FDJ and his agent were strategically ambiguous in whatever talks they had with ETH and that people at United read into that what they wanted to see.
Given FDJ's situation, it would have been idiotic to give United a flat no from the beginning. You want to keep your options open and you want leverage in any negotiations/dealings with Barcelona over a contract restructuring that might occur. Even if you want to stay at Barca and have little intention of going to United even if you did leave, the smart thing to say would have been something along the lines of "If you are offering the right terms, its an interesting option, let's keep talking over the summer and see what happens."
This kind of stuff happens all the time in the transfer market. You are led to believe you have a chance at a player when they really want leverage in a contract negotiation or they are just trying to play for time while working on another deal. A big part of operating in the market is figuring out who is bullshitting you and what deals are actually realistic, getting them done if they are, and moving on if they aren't.