“We’re doing everything possible to sign this player” – Man Utd CEO Richard Arnold reveals
Manchester United CEO Richard Arnold has revealed the club is doing everything possible to sign Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has told the board that the former Ajax midfielder is his priority target for this summer.
Ten Hag even rejected the chance to sign Yves Bissouma from Brighton before the midfielder joined Tottenham Hotspur because he was only focused on signing De Jong from Barcelona.
Manchester United have already had an offer for De Jong rejected by Barcelona.
The Red Devils offered a guaranteed fee of €60million for De Jong but Barcelona rejected the offer with the Spanish side holding out for a guaranteed fee of €80million.
During a meeting with Manchester United fans at a pub, Manchester United CEO Richard Arnold assured fans the club is doing everything possible to sign De Jong from Barcelona.
On De Jong, Arnold told the fans: “Money is not a consideration in who we want.
“It’s that the manager wants him, that they’ve actually done the work on looking if he’s a great player.
“Is it £100 million or £200million? I don’t know. Get who you f***ing want.
“Do you want me buying the players? Doesn’t that ring a bell?”
According to one of the fans who spoke to Arnold, the United chief also said: “United officials are in Barcelona getting the deal done for De Jong.
“As a club we’re doing everything possible to get the deal done, I’ve been up for days trying to get it done. The money is there but there’s things standing in our way which I can’t say.”
Manchester United boss Ten Hag would like the majority of this summer’s transfer budget spent on De Jong before moving on to other areas of the team which need strengthening.
Manchester United CEO Richard Arnold also criticised Ed Woodward for wasting £1billion on player transfers.
Richard Arnold said: “We spent a billion pounds on players, more than anyone in Europe.
“I’m not thrilled where we are. It doesn’t sit easy with me and I worry how we get this sorted for the future. What’s happened is we have f***ing burned through cash.
“You can’t go to our training ground and say ‘show me where the £1billion is’ because we haven’t spent money well historically.
“Last year was a f***ing nightmare. There was hate at every game. We’ve blown through an enormous amount of money.”