The amount of money we have spent on Casemiro & have reportedly bid for Antony, we can safely rule it out, that this deal is held up because we are not willing to cover 17M Pounds owed to him.
There are only two possible scenarios, 1) He is really not interested in moving anywhere, he is at his dream club with CPL football, plus he knows if he remains there then not only he will start matches because he is better than other options, plus he will get his money owed as he is contractually bound, he was only using our interest to get what he is owed and have a better hand at negotiation.
2) He is open to moving and he is only playing good cop till the end of the window, when they panic as they will need to register players, so they pay him the deferred wage in one go and as the deal is already agreed with Barca and his agent the transfer may be closed in a day or two.
I would think ETH was banking on scenario number two and he must have had assurances from De Jong himself and agent. He thought we could get by till the end of window on Preseason Mcfred and Eriksen, however their performances had put a spanner in the works and ETH and the board decided even if the 2nd scenario is possible, we can not compromise on our season. Plus Barca may pull other levers or sell Auba/Dest & Depay which may result in not needing to sell De Jong, consequently we have gone ahead with our plans to sign other players and may try last moment if feasible.
Whereas I think it is scenario 1, hopefully we get him, it is a much needed signing and will overhaul our midfield and we may be able to go toe to toe with top teams.