Barcelona handed boost as star player's new agent holds initial discussions with club over contract renewal: Reports

Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong, who has signed a new agent, has reportedly expressed the desire to extend his contract with the club. De Jong, who earlier had Turkey-born professional Ali Dursun as his representative, is said to have severed all ties with the latter and instead chosen a new agent, who, like him, is Dutch.

According to Mundo Deportivo, via Barca Universal, De Jong's new agent has already contacted Barcelona and asked to arrange a meeting with sporting director Deco. The Dutchman's contract comes to an end in June 2026, and his new agent has expressed the intention to listen to the club's offers.

While a lot of pressure was initially put on De Jong to sort out his contract extension, he had to first come to terms with his ex-agent Dursun, with whom he fell out. Hence, the first thing of importance in De Jong's mind was taking care of his relationship with Dursun before speaking to Barca regarding an extension, as per Barca Universal.

Reports suggest that while offering De Jong a hike in his wage is out of the question for financially strapped Barca, they want to retain him in their squad. La Blaugrana believe that the Dutchman is already on a very high salary owing to the contract he had negotiated with the club's former management.

The central midfielder, who arrived at the Camp Nou from Ajax in 2019, was vital to Barcelona's title-winning run in the 2024-25 season. The 28-year-old played 46 matches across all competitions for Barca in that campaign (including 26 in La Liga) and scored two goals while bagging the same number of assists. He has scored 19 goals in 260 appearances for the club so far.

Barcelona have quite a few contract issues to sort out with players

Apart from de Jong, Barcelona also have to resolve the contract situations of three other players. While Oriol Romeu is reportedly expected to terminate his contract and leave, a solution is yet to be found for the impasse that Hector Fort is currently in. Goalkeeper Inaki Pena, however, is reportedly expected to sign an extension and leave on loan.

Barca began the new LaLiga season with a 3-0 win away from home over Mallorca in the opening weekend, and are scheduled to play Levante, again away, on Saturday, August 23. Their first three matches of the league are scheduled away from home, and it is not until September 14 that Barcelona play their first game at Camp Nou, against Valencia.

While the acquisition of Marcus Rashford on loan from Manchester Unitedcould be the biggest of all signings made by the club in the summer transfer window, goalkeeper Joan Garcia's arrival has also given them a big boost in defence. Winger Roony Bardghji was also signed from FC Copenhagen for a reported sum of €2.5 million.