Frenkie De Jong: Deal Done?

Transfer Agreed?

If rumours are to be believed then Manchester City may have won the race to sign the Dutch wonderkid Frenkie De Jong, beating off other suitors such as Barcelona. Club insiders and reporters close to Manchester City seem to have started to imply in the last few days that the situation with Frenkie De Jong may have changed and rather than being someone being considered the deal is now regarded as active.

De Jong is a versatile player who seems to fit the bill for Pep Guardiola as both a potential long term replacement for Fernandinho and who offers some further tactical fluidity by being confident at Centre Back. De Jong can play across the central spine of the team and is clearly capable of accelerating his development.

He is under contract at Ajax until Summer 2021 and there have long been suggestions Ajax were ready to consider reaching a deal for the sale of De Jong. Such a sale can clearly underpin the future of the club for a considerable period of time and may even serve to protect the future of their famed academy.

De Jong is a player who has been repeatedly scouted not just by Manchester City but also Bayern Munich, Juventus, Paris Saint Germain and Barcelona. Clearly any sale is likely to be for an inflated fee to see off the competitors and guarantee the signing.

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Manchester City Club insiders have suggested that a deal has been agreed with Ajax for the purchase of the player and the fee involved will significantly smash City’s existing transfer record which is £60 million for Riyad Mahrez. Newspapers are reporting the fee as £90 million although its not clear if there is any credence in those claims.

Given the interest of so many top sides, it seems likely the buying club may have to work hard to get the deal over the line. The fee may be one inducement – its certainly easier to get past hostile fans if the sum involved is close to a record deal. There may be other inducements too. Either an exchange which may see a player going in the other direction or a loan back option, in effect allowing Ajax to keep the player until the end of the season.

A player exchange plus cash deal may make some sense to City, given the impending announcements of a new raft of Financial Fair Play measures to limit Club spending. Although it should be noted there is only one City player who has been consistently linked with Ajax in recent months – Ilkay Gundogan. Gundogan was Guardiola’s first signing and he has proven to be a solid signing despite his injury record. He is entering the final phase of his existing contract and its not clear if the transfer links are part of a wider game play to get him an improved contract offer at City or whether he is really looking to move on.

Clearly any deal involving Gundogan will involve some wage negotiation as it is unlikely Ajax would be in a position to match the wages Gundogan currently receives. So if that is really part of the transfer proposal then there may be required to be some inducement from City to smooth the matter over.

Signing De Jong and loaning him back to Ajax is a distinct possibility. De Jong would be another useful part of the squad now but his real value is downstream as he gets older. If he assumed Gundogan’s place in our squad it may guarantee him only 15 appearances this year unless there are further first team injuries. So he could be loaned to aid his development. A similar deal was reached with Palmeiras for Gabriel Jesus and this has worked out well, but given City carry some risk in this kind of deal, it may impact upon the fee eventually agreed.

Some media outlets close to Barcelona have suggested the Club believe City are in prime position to secure De Jong and have talked down recent Barcelona interest. There now appears to be a growing series of rumours and information from varying camps suggesting De Jong is on the move in January and that City may be the destination. Certainly it would appear Manchester City are believing this to be the case.

Before City fans get too excited its worth noting that all and any transfer deals are subject to last minute changes of heart and new clubs turning up willing to outbid all other sides. Remember Alves? Remember Fred? Remember Sanchez? Remember Jorginho? So nothing is ever done until the Club post a picture of the player wearing our colours in the Etihad stadium, but right now links are getting stronger and De Jong may well be a City player in a little over 2 months.

Its worth noting too that previously there was an impediment to January transfer business because UEFA rules effectively prevented a player from representing 2 Champions League sides in a single season. From 2018/19 this is no longer the case so De Jong who has already represented Ajax in this season’s Champions League could also play for City in the same campaign. So January buying for De Jong may well make economic and sporting sense.