Man Utd: Barcelona ‘attracted’ by Ratcliffe’s ‘bold exchange offer’ to sign Ten Hag’s ‘obsession’

According to reports, Manchester United have ‘launched a bold strategy’ to sign FC Barcelona and Netherlands star Frenkie de Jong in a swap deal.

The Red Devils have been active in the transfer market this summer. They have already spent around £150m to sign Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui.

Despite this, Man Utd are far from finished as they could make a couple more signings before the window closes at the end of this month.

One of their priorities is to sign a new centre-midfielder and it’s been widely reported that PSG star Manuel Ugarte is their main target. It’s bee n suggested by Football Insider that he’s been identified as a long-term replacement for Casemiro, who has ‘raised red flags’.

‘Erik ten Hag is prioritising the signing of a new defensive midfielder this summer to replace the ageing Casemiro, following his disappointing displays last season.

‘Football Insider revealed that Monaco’s Youssouf Fofana and Burnley’s Sander Berge are other names on the Red Devils’ list of targets.

‘Casemiro’s performances towards the end of last season raised red flags for United’s coaching staff, and a long-term replacement has become a priority this summer.’

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However, reports linking De Jong with Man Utd are not going away after they were linked with the talented midfielder during the 2022 summer transfer window.

Man Utd failed to tempt the Dutchman to reunite with former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford and eventually signed Casemiro as an alternative.

But with Barcelona needing to offload one or two unwanted assets to fund a move for Nico Williams, it has been suggested that they could sell De Jong this summer and Ten Hag is still ‘obsessed’ with the 27-year-old.

A report in Spain claims Ten Hag has ‘identified De Jong as a key piece for his Man Utd project’. They are said to have ‘proposed an exchange that could benefit all parties involved’, with it claimed England international could move in the other direction as part of a swap deal.

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After falling out with Ten Hag last season, Sancho featured heavily for Man Utd during pre-season but he missed their 1-0 win against Fulham on Friday night.

The report claims Man Utd’s ‘offer has been received with interest’ as Sancho is ‘seen as an attractive option to strengthen Barcelona’s attack’.

‘Now the ball is in Hansi Flick’s court. The coach will have to decide whether or not to give the go-ahead to Jadon’s arrival.

‘It will be necessary to see if De Jong would agree once and for all to go to Old Trafford, where this season he would reunite with a great friend in De Ligt.

‘If the operation were to be carried out, Barcelona would have to go to the market to strengthen the position of midfielder with a footballer with a more defensive profile as Flick wants one.’