Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap

Frenkie to United?


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TheHeya

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On the fence on having a player that doesn’t want to be here. However, the relationship between De Jong and ETH might make it so we are not in a Di Maria situation. Thoughts on inserting a clause hi to his contact that after year 2 he can leave to a CL team from abroad for a set fee?
 

LordSpud

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So much news and rumours going around about this guy. Trouble is, if hes not wanting to come, then who? Seems all the talk about the midfield is purely about one player - hopefully we dont spend all summer chasing him only for him to just keep repeating that hes staying at Barca.
 

mancsarered

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This is the exact thing we need to avoid. Would have loved it if he wanted the move, but alas. Move on.
 

sewey89

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So much news and rumours going around about this guy. Trouble is, if hes not wanting to come, then who? Seems all the talk about the midfield is purely about one player - hopefully we dont spend all summer chasing him only for him to just keep repeating that hes staying at Barca.
It's been a week since we were first seriously linked.
 

sewey89

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On the fence on having a player that doesn’t want to be here. However, the relationship between De Jong and ETH might make it so we are not in a Di Maria situation. Thoughts on inserting a clause hi to his contact that after year 2 he can leave to a CL team from abroad for a set fee?
Not a chance. Club would never agree to that and nor should we.
 

captaincantona

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This is the exact thing we need to avoid. Would have loved it if he wanted the move, but alas. Move on.
Point is though that he may have to move on regardless. There are two separate issues that appear to be Getting rolled in together by fans.

One is that economically, selling FDJ makes sense for Barca more than any other player in their squad. They have ready made cover and another midfielder incoming and they will get a fee for him far more than other possible sales. It also allows them to have a proper Barca core to at the heart of their team. It’s a no brainier. If they need to sell FDJ is the prime candidate.

That leads to the second completely separate issue of who will buy him. If staying is not an option, he is not just gonna throw in the towel - he will make the next best move for his career and considering ETH and Donny and by the looks of it Timber are here, he knows he will be central to the managers plans.

how do we know his feelings on signing for any particular team? CL football? Sure everyone wants that but it hasn’t stopped any number of players making the move to EL teams. Money? Well we can offer that. A great coach? Well we know he likes ETH so that bridges the gap somewhat with Pep who appears to be the only competition.

I would also say that if anyone can inspire him to reproduce his best...the new gaffer can. This would be an excellent bit of business imo.
 

Rolaholic

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Yeah agreed. I fecking hate good players who know our new managers system. They're the worst.
:lol:

Lot of fans haven't accepted the current reality of the club. Most of the new generation of elite young players/talent have grown up not knowing United as a powerhouse winning and competing for CL titles regularly. They won't dream of a move to us over say Liverpool, City, Real, Barca, Bayern etc if those clubs are interested.

We're working at a disadvantage and have lost the sense of romanticism and glamour associated with the club due to the shit we've served up on the pitch during the post-Fergie years. It's not dissimilar to the position Liverpool were in prior to Klopp.

Doesn't mean that we can't or won't get back to that point but it will take time and right now we're not in great position to be not trying for or dismissing top talents just because we're not their first choice because 9 out of 10 would choose other destinations over us if given the chance.
 

Rozay

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Just popping back in again to say that if De Jong ‘doesn’t want to join’, then we won’t sign him (unless at gun point perhaps).
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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This is the exact thing we need to avoid. Would have loved it if he wanted the move, but alas. Move on.
Barca must sell him to fix their financial problem so that means he's available to buy. We shouldn't be moving on from player that proven fits into the manager's system. If anything, we need to get players that fit the manager system.

Let's be honest, which one is better: signing player that only wants CL football or signing player that wants to play for the manager? A player that plays for the manager is likely not going to throw the manager under the bus and will give it all for the manager. Our former players tend to say: we don't want to disappoint Sir Alex.

Signing player like De Jong could also be good for dressing room of the new manager. Not saying he's a leader but since him and VDB used to work under ETH, him and VDB can convince players in the dressing room that starting to doubt the manager's methodology.
 

LordSpud

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It's been a week since we were first seriously linked.
True - but even before that there wasnt really much going on with the midfield, maybe a couple of mentions about Kalvin Phillips but even he seemingly didnt want to come.
 

mazhar13

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Source: Marca (Luis F. Rojo)
  • Raphinha won't negotiate with other clubs as he's waiting for Barcelona to submit their formal offer.
  • Barcelona are waiting for Leeds's final position.
    • Relegation = lower price
  • Barcelona are also waiting on Ousmane Dembélé's future.
    • If he leaves, then they'll need a new winger.
 

wise_old_man

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I don’t know what’s up with Real and Barcelona but the hold they have on players is crazy. They just never want to leave even when they’re not wanted/are being pushed out. Real I think I can kinda understand considering how many CL’s they have, but Barcelona wasn’t even that amazing a club until the Rijkaard revolution (they were a great club of course but not like tier 1) - and Messi isn’t even there anymore.

Are the paella’s really that enticing? Come try Sunday roast or something
Real and Barca are bigger than Manchester United will ever be. Sorry to burst many bubbles around here but that’s the truth.

Even when we were the champion of Europe, Ronaldo wanted to leave us for Real. Ronaldinho also rejected us for Barcelona. Our history has a total of 3 Champions League trophies only. Not good enough to be a tier 1 powerhouse.
 

PoTMS

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Real and Barca are bigger than Manchester United will ever be. Sorry to burst many bubbles around here but that’s the truth.

Even when we were the champion of Europe, Ronaldo wanted to leave us for Real. Ronaldinho also rejected us for Barcelona. Our history has a total of 3 Champions League trophies only. Not good enough to be a tier 1 powerhouse.
Madrid yes, Barcelona no.
 

TsuWave

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Real and Barca are bigger than Manchester United will ever be. Sorry to burst many bubbles around here but that’s the truth.

Even when we were the champion of Europe, Ronaldo wanted to leave us for Real. Ronaldinho also rejected us for Barcelona. Our history has a total of 3 Champions League trophies only. Not good enough to be a tier 1 powerhouse.
Real is bigger than United, yes. Barcelona is arguable, I'd even say no. They have more CL titles, but that in itself doesn't make them a bigger club than United. Real is because they have an overwhelming number of CL titles and everything else is comparable/on par with United

Ronaldo wanting to leave for Real or United being rejected by players is not new information or the smoking gun you think it is, clubs get rejected all the time.

Culturally, Spanish and Portuguese speaking kids grow up wanting to play for those two clubs. Cultural factors, language, colonialism/history, gastronomy, lifestyle etc all play a part. The fact these two clubs have also hoarded their national team heroes for decades is also another factor. United held similar status for UK born players for a while, until the oil money clubs came and crushed the buildings.
 

Eckers99

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Real and Barca are bigger than Manchester United will ever be. Sorry to burst many bubbles around here but that’s the truth.

Even when we were the champion of Europe, Ronaldo wanted to leave us for Real. Ronaldinho also rejected us for Barcelona. Our history has a total of 3 Champions League trophies only. Not good enough to be a tier 1 powerhouse.
You're confusing size and prestige there. United are bigger than anyone in big parts of the world, Real are bigger in others. We should've won more Champions Leagues relative to our size and don't quite have Real's all-consuming glamour, but we're still a fecking huge club and a big pull for most players.
 
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Even when we were the champion of Europe, Ronaldo wanted to leave us for Real.
And Varane wanted to leave Real for United. Makélélé wanted to leave them for Chelsea, Neymar fancied PSG over Barça, De Ligt fancied Juve more, and Haaland just chose City over all of them.

It means little. Ronaldo as a Portuguese kid obviously had a softer spot for spending his career in Spain, nothing odd about that at all.
 
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Prodigal7

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You're confusing size and prestige there. United are bigger than anyone in big parts of the world, Real are bigger in others. We should've won more Champions Leagues relative to our size and don't quite have Real's all-consuming glamour, but we're still a fecking huge club and a big pull for most players.
If we were based in a sunnier part of the world we would have more pulling power than anyone including Madrid and would have had a lot more champions leagues.
 

Eckers99

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If we were based in a sunnier part of the world we would have more pulling power than anyone including Madrid and would have had a lot more champions leagues.
Are you suggesting that the worst thing about Manchester United is Manchester? Probably fair tbh.
 

captaincantona

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Real and Barca are bigger than Manchester United will ever be. Sorry to burst many bubbles around here but that’s the truth.

Even when we were the champion of Europe, Ronaldo wanted to leave us for Real. Ronaldinho also rejected us for Barcelona. Our history has a total of 3 Champions League trophies only. Not good enough to be a tier 1 powerhouse.
Tier 1 powerhouse is a dodgy concept...where did you get that from?

Barca never won the European Cup. Liverpool for the 20 years before Klopp could not have been considered Tier 1 but they won the EC/CL 5 times and have always been considered highly because of their history. AC Milan have won more European Cups than Barca but can’t be considered Tier 1 in any way. Are you talking domestic dominance...Benfica? Milan? Juve? Barca? Real? Bayern? Surely Uniteds run under sir Alex matches those other teams for domestic dominance. Cup record similar. United also, in the CL, over a 15 year period made it to the quarters god knows how many times, the semis 3 times and the final 4 times winning it twice? That’s mighty impressive.

exactly who is Tier 1 to you and why? United are not tier one on current form. You seem to be speaking historically though and in that case...we most certainly are.
 

Rozay

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Real and Barca are bigger than Manchester United will ever be. Sorry to burst many bubbles around here but that’s the truth.

Even when we were the champion of Europe, Ronaldo wanted to leave us for Real. Ronaldinho also rejected us for Barcelona. Our history has a total of 3 Champions League trophies only. Not good enough to be a tier 1 powerhouse.
At the time this happened Barcelona had only one CL title in their history.
 

The Corinthian

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Real and Barca are bigger than Manchester United will ever be. Sorry to burst many bubbles around here but that’s the truth.

Even when we were the champion of Europe, Ronaldo wanted to leave us for Real. Ronaldinho also rejected us for Barcelona. Our history has a total of 3 Champions League trophies only. Not good enough to be a tier 1 powerhouse.
Players reject us for a multitude of reasons. As a general rule of thumb, South American players will always have a preference for La Liga. Culture, language, weather are all massive factors in their decisions.

Ronaldo was an exception for a European player as it was a dream and ambition of his growing up on Madeira to play for Real.
 

VinzentFTW

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We want to sign players who are young and hungry enough and still have something to prove. Just because he already plays for a big club doesn't mean he doesn't meet those criteria. He's a proven quality player in a position and archetype we've needed forever. He hasn't yet personally achieved in the game what his talent shows he could. He's currently being misused and has the coach who knows him, admires him, and has shown to be able to get the best out of him coming here to manage us.

It isn't a Di Maria situation where the player has already won everything and is simply going to whoever puts the most money on the table. Ten Hag knows De Jong and should be able to talk to him, sell him on the project, and gauge from what he knows of his personality and what he's saying whether he'd be coming for the right reasons or not. If he isn't, we move on, but I'd suspect he would be.

Literally the only 'negative' aspect is that he's already at another big club that he's not in a hurry to leave. As has been mentioned dozens of times already in here, if the player's attitude is right, that is nothing at all to stop him from being a success somewhere else (Robben to Bayern, Sneijder to Inter, Toure to Abu Dhabi, Sanchez to Arsenal, Thiago to Bayern (and Liverpool), Fabregas to Chelsea, Cancelo to Abu Dhabi, Pirlo to Juve etc etc etc).
I probably didnt make my point clearly enough as I dont disagree with you. If Ten Hag can sell the project to him then im all for it. This is also the most likely scenario should he sign, and for that i will get massively excited. However if the situation is that De Jong have zero interrest in joining us and is forced out then United should back of. The fans will likely never know the full truth behind it if the deal takes place though. De Jong will be professional in front of the camera regardless. United however will know if they buy a player who is motivated or not.
 

Trophy Room

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With news like this and the other story about United players already contacting him on WhatsApp, I'm now worried that Ten Hag is one of those people who constantly sends GIFs in group chats. De Jong will eventually get tired of him spamming their conversation with clips from The Office and join City.
With all this texting, I hope he hasn’t learnt bad habits from his mate Overnars.
 

TsuWave

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Funny thing is that Barcelona only grabbed their second CL in 2006 - which in football terms is very recent.

I think United would have also more appeal if Ronaldo had stayed here for longer. Part of the Barcelona appeal is Ronaldinho, Messi etc. Having global superstars play for your club is important. United has had great players, but they weren't as big as some of the guys that played for both Real and Barca
 

Mr Pigeon

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Are you suggesting that the worst thing about Manchester United is Manchester? Probably fair tbh.
It makes sense. I wouldn't have a problem living in the city, and I certainly wouldn't have a problem living in the surrounding areas, but then again I know more than "Manchester = wet and cold" which is probably the limits some players would go to when researching Manchester.
 

MUFC OK

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Yeah I’ve changed my stance. If he’s not up for it let’s identify other targets.
 

Kaushal

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Real and Barca are bigger than Manchester United will ever be. Sorry to burst many bubbles around here but that’s the truth.

Even when we were the champion of Europe, Ronaldo wanted to leave us for Real. Ronaldinho also rejected us for Barcelona. Our history has a total of 3 Champions League trophies only. Not good enough to be a tier 1 powerhouse.
The amount of self undermining of us by our own fans is so irritating. If you don’t even know how huge Manchester United is then what the fecking point of your existence as a united fan ? Spanish and Portuguese speaking players preferring Spanish clubs is your benchmark of downplaying us ? Yes, Madrid is the most successful club but even they don’t stand near us in some parameters of huge clubs like popularity and fanbase of united. Their mouthpiece newspaper had to fecking edit a photograph to show the stadium in USA was full of Madrid fans when it was all red. That’s how inferior they feel of us interms of global appeal. And don’t even get me started on Barcelona.

Forget about mid table clubs ,Sometimes I wish some of our fans were fans of other big clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, or even Liverpool to truly get how fecking huge is Manchester United because them clubs and their fans feel that inferiority despite big clubs themselves. And your point about Real and Barcelona, if there is one English club which gets the appreciation and admiration of a huge fecking giant club similar to them or better in case of Barcelona, it’s Manchester United. Go to some other countries and talk to some neutrals or see the media of these countries and see what they think of us and how they portray us and then realise how big we are. We might be shit at the moment but every club go through cycles and even in these shit years we were signing players other clubs can only dream of. We will get through this shithole eventually and when we do maybe then only you would realise that we are fecking behemoth of a football club.
 
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Mainoldo

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Real and Barca are bigger than Manchester United will ever be. Sorry to burst many bubbles around here but that’s the truth.

Even when we were the champion of Europe, Ronaldo wanted to leave us for Real. Ronaldinho also rejected us for Barcelona. Our history has a total of 3 Champions League trophies only. Not good enough to be a tier 1 powerhouse.
How many Champions league’s did Barca when we Ronaldinho rejected them for us?

They are attractive in certain contents but they don’t have a Rich history of players drawling to play for them as they only became a real powerhouse once Pep evolved them.

Maradona, R9, Figo just to name a few that dipped with no hesitation.
 
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