Ah yes, because he said so. How many times have players said they love a club and don't want to leave, only for them to leave! Ronaldo did it in 2009, said he loved United and he was looking forward to the future with us... that was in June i believe, a few weeks later he was gone. Many players have done it. You get the egotistical bastards that like to think they're bigger than a club and force a move, but most don't.
You seem to think that giving up €17m isn't a problem and that he should do straight away. If he says he wants to leave, Barca could use that to get out of paying him the owed money depending on whats written into his contract, WHICH WE DON'T KNOW! Theres also the loyalty bonuses that he'd forgo if he said he wants to leave. He's likely being advised to say he wants to stay to ensure that he gets the cash. You truly do believe that transfers are as simple as submitting a bid, having it accepted and the player just accepting personal terms. Barca are in a fecking mess at the moment, they owe money out left and right, they owe players obscene amounts of money and yet they're still signing players like nothing is wrong. If they're making signings then it surely shows that they're confident, as are United that de Jong is going. They've probably already spent the fixed fee we've promised them in my opinion!
Plus this is a new team in charge now, Woodward the liability is gone. United want to get as far away from that shit as possible. This was never going to be an easy transfer to sort out and United knew that from the very beginning. Ten Hag has his assurances and he's pushing United to keep going. Can you imagine the backlash on him from the board if it turns out that de Jong doesn't want to come? They'd question every signings suggestion he has in my opinion. So how about looking at the bigger picture and viewing things from different angles instead of just blindly swallowing what the media feeds you?
