Joan Laporta suggests Barcelona have received multiple offers for Frenkie de Jong
By Sean Walsh
Barcelona club president Joan Laporta has hinted Manchester United are not the only team to have made an offer for Frenkie de Jong this summer, but they are currently reluctant to let him leave.
Erik ten Hag has made De Jong, who he worked with at Ajax, his priority target after taking the reins at Old Trafford.
90min understands Man Utd have agreed an €85m fee with Barça for the midfielder, but he will not entertain an exit from Camp Nou until he is paid nearly €20m in deferred wages. Reports in Spain have also suggested that the likes of Chelsea and Bayern Munich are interested in his signature.
In an interview with ESPN, Laporta insisted he 'wants to talk' to De Jong in order to clarify his future.
"He is our player, a high quality player. We like him very much. We must clarify some aspects of his position, but right now he's a player of Barcelona. He has some offers, but at the moment we don't accept the offers because we want to talk to him in order to know exactly what he wants," he said.
Despite Barcelona's ongoing financial woes, they have had a busy summer window, notably signing Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich.
They remain on the hunt for further squad reinforcements and have not given up hope of bringing in Chelsea target Jules Kounde.
Listen now to 90min's Talking Transfers podcast, with Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth. On the latest show they discuss Chelsea finally closing in on Jules Kounde, Man Utd's ongoing pursuit of Frenkie de Jong, West Ham's hunt for a new forward and left-back and more. Available on all audio platforms.
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Expectations are high for the new season, particularly after such a strong end to the previous campaign under Xavi.
When asked if Barça could even win the Champions League this season, Laporta replied: "Futbol Club Barcelona is back. We are back. We are ready to compete. We are ready to compete in all the competitions that we are involved and we will do our best to win this competition that, of course, we like very much."