Manchester City and Bayern Munich are reportedly interested in signing Barcelona midfield mainstay Frenkie de Jong, whose contract runs till 2026.
According to a report from Italian publication Calciomercato, Barcelona midfield superstar Frenkie de Jong is attracting a lot of interest from top clubs in Europe with Premier League champions Manchester City and Bundesliga title-holders Bayern Munich keen.
De Jong came through the ranks at Willem II but made the switch to AFC Ajax in 2015, initially linking up with the club’s Under-21 side before he grew into a mainstay in the middle of the park for the Eredivisie giants. He went on to make 89 senior appearances for the Dutch heavyweights, scoring five goals and setting up 13 more.
Barcelona came calling for him in the summer of 2019, as the 24-year-old midfielder completed a transfer in a massive deal worth €86 million. De Jong had a slow start to life in Catalonia but gradually became a permanent starter in the centre of the pitch for the Blaugrana and enjoyed a fine 2020/21 campaign on a personal level.
The Netherlands international, who has 104 appearances for Barcelona so far, made a solid start to the new campaign as well but has seen his form decline in recent games. In fact, de Jong was quite poor in the recent El Clasico defeat against Real Madrid, leading to question marks over his big-game pedigree from some quarters.
Nonetheless, his stock in Europe remains high as ever, as indicated by the interest in his services from Manchester City and Bayern Munich. Manchester City have no shortage of options in the centre of the park with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden all available at manager Pep Guardiola’s disposal currently.
However, Silva is facing an uncertain future at the Etihad, having pushed for an exit during the summer as well while Gundogan turned 31 last week and has a contract that runs out in 2023. In addition, De Bruyne is not getting any younger either and has battled injury problems of late. So, it makes sense for the Cityzens to start planning for the future, and someone of de Jong’s quality would be an ideal addition.
As for Bayern Munich, their interest in de Jong is not new. The Bavarian giants had shown an interest in the Netherlands international before his move to Barcelona in 2019 and have continued to monitor his progress. Given Corentin Tolisso’s injury-prone nature and Marc Roca’s struggles in Germany, Die Roten would need an addition in the midfield department in the near future.
De Jong, to that end, would make a fine signing for the record German champions for the present and the future. However, considering that the 24-year-old is contracted with Barcelona till the summer of 2026, any move would require both interested parties to shell out a massive sum to prise him away from Camp Nou.
