Barça resumes talks to resolve the De Jong case

BarcelonaFrenkie de Jong has gone from being an asset Barça wanted to sell a couple of seasons ago due to the high cost of his salary—and, specifically, the deferrals he signed in a renewal outside the group in the context of the pandemic—to being considered practically untouchable by Hansi Flick, a category that is unmatched. The Dutchman's contract expires on June 30, 2026, and despite an initial attempt to reach an agreement to renew it during the last summer transfer window to spread his salary over more years and gain salary margin (as was done, for example, with Jules Kounde), negotiations halted with the commitment to resume. As ARA has learned, contacts to renew De Jong have been reactivated and will be extended in the coming weeks.

The desire to continue together is mutual. A back-and-forth process is now underway, as sources from the Barcelona club have informed this newspaper, between the player's legal representatives and those of the club. De Jong expressed his happiness at Barcelona, ​​having just become the father of his second child, and also announced his intention to continue defending the Barcelona badge. In fact, the player himself expressed this publicly during the preseason tour. The number 21 player is entering his sixth season at the club as one of the squad's captains and with the influence his experience (he's 28) gives him in a dressing room full of young players. He is one of the players who garners the most praise internally from his teammates for his approach to football.

Behind him are a few complicated first years at Barça, in which the team accumulated painful shipwrecks, especially in the Champions League, and the problems with an ankle injury that caused him to star in some fearful performances. The star contract he signed in January 2019, when other clubs such as PSG or Manchester City also bet heavily on him after a great year at Ajax, and the deferrals have also been a great burden that has accompanied him in his career as a Barça player. In the summer of 2022, the Barça managers pushed him towards the exit, since with the fair play overpaid, and a lucrative interest from Manchester United at the time would have solved many of the Barça coffers' problems.

De Jong, hurt by the club, decided to hold on, clinging to his desire to remain a Barça player and to his contract. Under Hansi Flick, last season, he regained the prominence that was demanded of a player of his stature. He was the ninth outfield player in the squad who played the most minutes and the second in midfield, only surpassed by Pedri. Gavi said he was "scared" when he learned that De Jong could leave the team. When Joãos, Cancelo, and Félix played for Barça, they both agreed that the player who "had surprised them the most in training" was the Dutchman. Xavi Hernández also believed in this, but injuries kicked him in the bud. Under Flick, De Jong regained his prominence last season.

Frenkie de Jong's renewal is underway

The intention that the footballer has conveyed to Barça is to continue, and the club's intention is to renew his contract, with a salary that is in line with his role in the team, but also within the current salary scale of the Barça squad, in which the new contract of Lamine Yamal and the one signed by Robert Lewandowski in 202 stand out. deferrals that he agreed with his renewal in 2020, under the mandate of Josep Maria Bartomeu, and renewing it would allow these payments to be spread out over more years, as well as their amortization. All of this would generate fair play. It is expected that the renewal will be sealed and signed well before the new transfer window in January.

De Jong has had a new legal team representing him since this summer. In fact, if negotiations for his renewal were postponed in the summer, it is largely because he had a falling out with his previous representative, Ali Dursun. With the deferred payments the player still has to collect, the split with Dursun has not been an easy process, as they had a contract that ran until 2026. Now, the Dutchman is represented by the team led by Sébastien Ledure, a Belgian lawyer specializing in sports law with a long history. This profile is more focused on resolving legal issues, different from that of the conventional football agent, who is often more accustomed to managing transfers and the resulting commissions.

As for the most recent news, the Dutchman will be out this Sunday against Valencia because he is recovering from an injury to the external obturator muscle in his right leg that he suffered with the Netherlands during this international break. He is expected back on Thursday the 18th, in his Champions League debut against Newcastle.