Explained: Why Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong's move to Manchester United has hit a snag

Manchester United have been engaged in dialogues with Barcelona for several weeks now over the potential transfer of Frenkie de Jong.

United's new boss is keen to reunite with his former Ajax player at Old Trafford this season. However, the deal has progressed at an extremely slow pace and has apparently hit a new snag.

After a slow start to the summer transfer window, Manchester United announced their first signing of the Ten Hag era by bringing in Tyrell Malacia from Feyenoord.

The club might have thought they would soon have their second signing wrapped up in the form of De Jong but the transfer has now hit a snag.

The Telegraph has reported that Barcelona are due to pay De Jong a significant chunk of his wages, which has emerged as a stumbling block for the player's potential transfer of Manchester United.

The 25-year-old joined the club in 2019 and took a pay cut to help them with the losses incurred during COVID-19 pandemic. De Jong was on his way to recouping salary cuts in the coming seasons. Hence, Barcelona's deferred payment to the player has now created a road-block in the process of the player leaving the club.

The Catalans, having deferred his wages for three years, now owe him £13.7m as his basic pay and another £3.4m as bonuses. It is a huge sum of money and is unlikely to be written off as unpaid salary by the player. The player also reportedly has to get paid before leaving the Catalan club.

This snag is a considerable blow to the hopes of both the European giants and their plans for the transfer market this summer.

Barcelona and Manchester United had come to an agreement for the player, which would have seen the Red Devils pay €65 million as a fixed amount and €20 million in variable add-ons.

The deal is still on, but it won't progress to its final stages until the Blaugrana pay the aforementioned sum to De Jong. His current contract at the Camp Nou lasts until 2026.

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Barcelona president reluctant to sell Manchester United target

While the Blaugrana struggle with their economic crisis and figure out how to pay De Jong the amount they owe him, their president Joan Laporta issued a very contradictory statement.

Although it is being reported that a move has been agreed between the two clubs, Laporta declared that he has no intentions of selling the Dutch midfielder.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano reported that Laporta said:

"Frenkie de Jong is a Barcelona player - we don’t want to sell him unless we have no other choice."

Aware of Manchester United's eagerness and offers to sign the player, he further added:

“Of course we know there are offers for De Jong - but we don’t want to sell him."

The Catalans are clearly in need of generating funds through player sales and unless they sell the 25-year old to the Red Devils, it's difficult to see how they will do it.