Frenkie de Jong has made the call of staying at Barcelona as per the wish of his fiancé Mikky Kiemeney, according to journalist and Barcelona insider Gerrard Romero. The midfielder has been firm on his stance despite bids lying on the table from Premier League sides Manchester United and Chelsea.
Barcelona want to sell their Ajax recruit from 2019 due to their dire financial situation, and the midfielder attracting lucrative offers. The Catalans need to get-off their heavy earners off the roster and De Jong happens to be one of those. Further on, they also owe the 25-year-old €20 million in differed wages from last season, which they claim to be “illegal”. As a result, he has been put on the market but is refusing to leave.
Frenkie de Jong’s partner doesn’t want to move out of the city
Barcelona wanted to offload Frenkie de Jong in order to register their new signings this summer. They completed five signings this summer, welcoming the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Kounde, Frank Kessie and Andreas Christensen. However, either the sale of De Jong or renewing his contract with a significant pay-cut was the only way to register their recruits.
The club as a result agreed a massive €85 million deal with potential suitors Manchester United for De Jong, only for the midfielder to reject the move. Barcelona finally triggered their fourth economic lever and managed to register four new faces, except Jules Kounde. Xavi’s side still wants to offload De Jong with Chelsea showing fresh interest and even tabling a higher bid than United.
But the 25-year-old wants to stay at Camp Nou and succeed and has been stubborn on his decision. While the salary owed to him by the club was touted as the main reason, Romero has revealed it his fiancé Mikky Kiemeney who wants to live in Barcelona and hence has asked Frenkie not to leave the Catalan club.
While talking about the same in a tweet Romero wrote: “Frenkie de Jong’s fiancée does not want to leave the city of Barcelona, one of the reasons why the player does not want to leave either”.
Mikky has been with the Dutch international for a long time now, and even had visited the Camp Nou eight years back with him. De Jong had the dream of donning the Barca shirt one day and evidently Mikky has always stood by him from the past one decade. The midfielder understandably is now prioritising her wish as it also coincides with his.
Frenkie de Jong joined Barcelona back in 2019 from Ajax for a fee of £77 million. Touted as a player of the mould of Johan Cruyff’s brand of football, De Jong and Barca were a match made for each other. However, his three years at the club haven’t yielded much as he has only won the Copa del Rey so far. Manager Xavi feels the midfielder is not flourishing in the current system and wants him to leave as soon as possible.
Barcelona are planning to push for his exit once again, with Chelsea showing firm interest. Meanwhile, United lost their patience and instead invested their ‘De Jong money’ in Real Madrid star Casemiro who has just penned a four-year contract at Old Trafford. With just 10 days to go for the deadline day, it is still uncertain whether or not De Jong remains as a Barca player post this transfer window.