Chelsea join United in the race for De Jong

Barcelona want to speed up the exit operation and are already closing sales and transfers on the first day of July. The club have already made official the departure of two players who were on loan, Adama Traore and Luuk de Jong, who will return to Wolves and Sevilla, respectively.

For their part, the club want to get rid of players who do not count for Xavi Hernandez, such as Braithwaite, Umtiti, Lenglet, Riqui Puig or Mingueza. Then there is the case of Frenkie de Jong, who seems to be closer to leaving than staying at Camp Nou next season.

The Dutch midfielder is the player with the highest market value in the squad, which reaches 80 or 85 million euros. Given the club's financial situation, the president, Joan Laporta, has already given the go-ahead for a possible sale with a view to cleaning up the accounts.

Manchester United have been the most interested, and have been raising their offer little by little and are close to reaching an agreement with the Catalan giants. In addition, it would be the reunion of De Jong with Ten Hag, the coach with whom he reached his prime at Ajax before joining Barcelona.

The Red Devils' need for improvement in midfield has the player excited about the project, but he has a big contender in front of them. As reported by 'The Guardian', Chelsea joined the race for De Jong's signing. 

The aforementioned media assured that the Londoners are working in the shadows and are watching Barça and United's moves to see if they fail in order to make a decisive move. One advantage for the Blues is that they will be playing in the Champions League, something the Mancunians will not be doing.

Chelsea were another club interested in the 25-year-old midfielder when he emerged in 2019. Although the priority is to reinforce the defence following the departures of Rudiger and Christensen, the option of signing De Jong is very much liked at Stamford Bridge.

He could be joined by De Ligt, Ake, Kounde, Sterling and Raphinha, although the latter seems to have already made a deal with Barça. For his part, the player is still on holiday before the start of pre-season and is unaware of all the movements and rumours about his future.