Barcelona may be forced into Frenkie de Jong transfer U-turn as Man Utd look on

Barcelona appear to have performed a drastic U-turn on the future of Frenkie de Jong as they consider selling midfielder Franck Kessie just five months after his arrival from Milan.

De Jong is determined to stay at the Camp Nou despite criticising the club’s board for leaking his contract details this summer. De Jong’s wage details emerged amid reports the player’s contract was not valid over the course of a dramatic summer, when Barca unsuccessfully attempted to offload the player.

Manchester United had an initial transfer fee of £56.2million agreed with Barca last summer but the deal did not go through. Despite both clubs pushing for a deal, the player was not interested in leaving and he subsequently criticised a “campaign with lots of lies” – a jibe which appeared to be aimed at the club.

Despite starting in just half of his club’s matches in the opening months of the campaign despite being the highest earning player, it appears as though Barca are now changing their mind over the Dutchman’s future and will make him a key player in their side.

Barca’s midfield renovation is likely to pick up pace over the coming months with Sergio Busquets set to depart at the end of the campaign when his contract expires. However, it has now emerged that the club are also willing to cash-in on Kessie – who only moved to Camp Nou this year.

The Ivorian international moved to the Blaugrana as a free agent following the expiration of his contract with Milan, but he has started just twice in La Liga and has not been given a sustained run of matches by boss Xavi Hernandez – who has informed the club he would not disagree with a sale.

Indeed, a report by Diario AS highlights that the club are open to selling the holding midfielder for as little as £9million due to the fact he arrived without a transfer fee and it would allow the club to make a saving on his wage.

Aston Villa are said to be among the interested clubs.

Spanish radio station Cadena Cope outlined this week that the Catalan club would actually need to reduce their wage bill from its current outlay of approximately €600million to just €400m for next season – meaning that there are likely to be more exits than arrivals over the coming months.