Chelsea close to De Jong agreement amid Barcelona turmoil

Chelsea are close to reaching an agreement with Barcelona over the transfer of Frenkie de Jong, according to The Times.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the midfielder himself would accept a move to Stamford Bridge. He apparently turned down the chance to join Manchester United, being unconvinced over their project and keen to play Champions League football. The latter, at least, is something Chelsea do have to offer, but there is still the dispute between De Jong and Barcelona over deferred wages to be resolved. It it said the Catalan club owe the Netherlands international around £17 million and he isn’t willing to leave the club until the amount is paid in full.

Barcelona appear, however, determined to wriggle out of that and they’ve contacted De Jong to inform him that they consider his latest contract, signed in 2020 while Josep Maria Bartomeu was still in charge at the club, illegal. They now want it declared void so they could put De Jong back on personal terms defined on his arrival in 2019, significantly lower than the current ones. Meanwhile, Bartomeu has stated that the new contract is perfectly legal and was checked and approved at the time of signing by La Liga and the club’s auditors.