Things don’t seem to be getting too much better just yet for Xavi Hernandez and Barcelona.
The La Liga outfit are out of the Champions League, have a tough play-off game in the Europa League against Napoli to negotiate, and are struggling down in eighth place in the league, some 18 points off of leaders, Real Madrid, after just 17 games.
No wonder that it appears that president, Joan Laporta, wants to shake things up a bit in terms of the first-team squad.
If the Catalans are to haul themselves back up the table, they’ll need to bring in at least one or two new faces in the January transfer window, but in order to do just that, it’s likely that they’ll need to sell before they can buy.
With that in mind, there are only a few players that Barcelona could perhaps cope with letting go, and getting a pretty penny for them in return.
One of those is Dutch international midfielder, Frenkie de Jong.
Under normal circumstances, there’s no chance that the Blaugranes would consider selling a player who, up until recently, had been one of their most consistent performers.
However, nothing at Barcelona at the moment can be considered ‘normal’ circumstances, and there is, potentially, a decent market for de Jong.
Indeed, his father has already spoken with Dutch media to advise that some of Europe’s top clubs have been in touch.
Manchester United won’t be happy, however. De Jong senior has already ruled them out as a potential destination and for a very unusual reason.
“It’s often bad weather there [Manchester]. Of course, it’s about football, but it does matter,” he was quoted as saying to Algemeen Dagblad.
“Of course, I know that Barcelona needs money and a great offer for Frenkie could help, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. Although, five top European clubs have all called.”