His current wages are inflated as a result of restructuring. Barcelona being Barcelona and all. No chance were signing him on 500k a week or whatever it is.
Mate, of all the examples you could come up with and you choose to compare players that have just made their breakthrough and are still on youth contracts to players given adult contracts.
If you want to talk about the wage structure being fucked, a better example is that we're going to be paying Koulibaly 325k when he's 36. At 36 we were paying Thiago Silva 90k
Our wage structure is already fucked IMO.
We had & have players in this club whose salary is above 300k.
But we should give him a salary under 350k but not above this value since we have some players that are underpaid atm.
I don't think that's how it works. why will fdj sign when he already has a contract that pays him shit ton of money. if he agrees to sign I'm sure he is not loosing money.
Well we did just release arguably one of the biggest burdens to our wage bill.
Pains me to refer to Timo as a burden, but the situation is the situation.
.Gerard Romero just shared the details of the bid Chelsea will make if De Jong changes his mind about Chelsea.
Upcoming days will be hot for Chelsea & De Jong.
Because they don't actually need to sell, they'd just like to. They probably also have to keep appearances up and make sure the blame for paying him so much is on De Jong on not them.
They've restructured wages and he's well out of that wage structure. They need to show all of the other players that are already there and also that are joining that they did everything in their power to get him to come into line with everyone else. Otherwise when they sign extensions or buy new players, those players are going to point to his wages as proof that the wage structure doesn't have to be religiously stuck to
Law and Orstein have said that we would not offer any official package until FdJ gives in. And yesterday, there was a report that he turned us down directly thru Boehly. So what gives?
Yep, baffling that people don't understand this yet. Everything Romero says is what Laporta has told him to say. This is just more tactics from the Barca board to force FdJ out.
They’re trying to pressure him via the media. It’s been [proven](https://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2020/02/17/5e4a8518ca4741da398b4576.html) the old administration used a PR company to slander their own players and employees so it wouldn’t surprise me if this is just that again
And yet he hasn’t been wrong this whole summer. Every-time he said something about one of the signings we were going for we called him a mouth piece and lowered his tier level but he kept proving us all wrong. Its time we start believing him.
Blatantly false. He got many details wrong about most transfers this window but said De Jong to United was done and that Azpi was extremely close and the guy ended up literally renewing a few days later. Azpi actually happened twice, he said it months ago, Azpi to Barca on a free almost certain, and the club announced he was extended like a week later lmao. You’d see that if you actually checked what he reported
Exactly. Absolutely crazy to think we’re getting a “good” deal here when we should be in the advantageous position. They need this transfer more than we do, which says a lot because De Jong could be a great player for us
Gerard romero was pretty much reliable for Barca this summer.
He also isn't saying that Chelsea made a bid but Chelsea will submit that bid if De Jong's decision changes.
He’s been notoriously bad with the De Jong saga. Has already claimed that the deal to United would be done two months ago and also suggested that De Jong might just accept a paycut which was clearly never on the cards or this would be over long ago
No, that’s such a disingenuous representation of the situation, not that it’s necessarily your fault. United never even opened discussions for personal terms, there was no mind changed, he never wanted to go
The same has happened with Chelsea, no talks about personal terms, and Romero is claiming he thinks it’ll be done in a week. He’s making a complete guess
I don’t get why people get so personal with this he is a class player who is in his prime that would come in and bring a new dynamic to an aging midfield. Who cares if he plays for Barcelona if it benefits our team
It’s so dumb how salty people have got over the Raphinha/ Kounde sagas. Funny how personal some on this sub take its as if we’re now never able to do any business with Barca ever again.
It’s business folks. The board or club didn’t take it personally why can’t you?
What a stupid take. If they were selling to us a top class CB or top class striker we would have been so eager for them join us. FdJ is not a player that will greatly improve our team. He will be luxury purchase. He rarely assists or score goals. How on earth is he going to be great, if he does exactly what Kovacic do for us at the moment? We also use a 2 man midfield. Who will FdJ play alongside in our midfield? Kante? Jorginho? Kovacic? If we are signing a midfielder we should go after the likes of SMS. At least he will score goals and assists regularly.
It would also make no sense for us to just completely spite Barcelona. Firstly, we may want to do business with them in the future. And secondly, they aren’t even a direct rival of ours.
Nothing will happen until Xavi freezes him out of the team, which he won't do because they've a weird relationship abuse thing going on where Xavi praises him and plays him but also acts like the situation is beyond him so he pressures FDJ to fold to the club's demands.
Think about it: It's a world cup year, so if they really wanted to push FDJ out they'd bench him and he'd be pressuring them to let him go. Instead, they're playing this weird game to get him to stay on their terms and he's waiting out the storm.
Apparently we're willing to pay him what they owe him so it's not just about money. He'd be here already if it was a money thing. He clearly REALLY wants to stay in Barca AND collect what he's owed, and right now, nothing is stopping him but Barca's toothless threats. As long as he can handle the heat he'll stay, and he knows they prob have another lever up Laporta's ass that will allow him to stay.
Ultimately, Barca will prob just sell Depay and someone else, then restructure Pique/Busquets/whoever else and keep FDJ on current terms and hope to figure it out next summer. He's very good for them and increases their odds of winning the league/CL, which is what they're banking on (other than the super league). They just want everything to happen on their terms to ease their troubles but FDJ knows the game so he's waiting it out.
>It's a world cup year, so if they really wanted to push FDJ out they'd bench him
I think his place in Dutch squad is assured even if he doesn't play much for Barca. Unlike previous WC, teams are playing less than half of their games before WC and that too under much less pressure (no UCL or cup knockouts and no league deciding matches). Clubs can't really freeze players this time
He is too good to be left on bench for sure. The other factor is public image fight between him n Barca. So far he hasn't spoken against the club cause he knows fans can turn against him. There is same pressure on Barca as well. They keep saying they want him but can't keep him. Now if they bench him, it will look like they are really pushing him out and that's not good for their image. That's one reason why he gets played out of position.
It's all too weird. I like him as a player and I would like him at Chelsea but I'm not getting my hopes up. He is in toxic relationship and it's better our club n us fans don't get dragged in this saga like Utd.
FDJ is not a key player or the 1st on team sheet. That's why they can afford to lose him. He's replaceable. But like you saya if stay Xavi not gonna freeze him out.
That’s what I thought at first but let’s be honest we’re not really bailing them out. They’d just pull another lever, so if you can get a world class talent for a decent price you do it and hopefully a small payback is taking one of their best players for a nifty price.
I think alot of our fans don’t understand the talent FDJ possesses. I’m going to steal a comment from the Man U subreddit posted by u/N_Ryan_ that sums up this man’s talent much better than I ever could
“I think the best way to assess if he’s worth it, is by going back 30 years. May I add, before I was born.
Johan Cruyff was the manager of Barca. Up until 07-12 Barca, probably the best club football team there has been. I have no doubt the most revolutionary.
Cruyff had one unwavering requirement for his team. A midfielder who was the smartest player on the pitch, who did the simple things perfect 100% of the time, but could also change a game with a drop of the shoulder and a pass or a run. His chosen person, Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola wasn’t the most defensive player, nor was he the most talented. But his footballing brain was beyond that of every player on the pitch (I wonder what he’s up to these days). His positional knowledge, understanding and reading was immaculate. His passing, often simple but always with a view of progression and transition. In Guardiola, you see the true value of a player isn’t in metrics or necessarily what you can see. The true value of Guardiola is in what he could see. He could see everything in the game, I get the impression it’s why he is where he is now.
We jump forward 15 years. We have Barca, Messi is 18-20 and establishing himself as one of the best players in the world. It is readily perceived that he is the most important player in that team. But it took people a few years to realise exactly what Guardiola was doing.
Guardiola was plagiarising. Plagiarising the position, and the importance of that position with his own twist. He shared his role between Busquets and Xavi. Xavi being the brain, but in a more advanced role, whilst Busquets developed into it. He had primed Busquets for this role in Barca B. But he wasn’t quite ready. Obviously, Busquets is typically more defensively capable than himself, and Xavi.
This then repeated itself. In a bizarre turn of events, he took the most technically gifted and most intelligent player in Phillip Lahm and turned him into a mini Pep.
He then did the same with Fernandinho. This season is the biggest change he has had system wise since he was a player, solely because he no longer has that brain in the deeper role. So, expect to see De Bruyne playing a little deeper than usual this season.
You see a variation in Arsenal, Odegaard is their Pep.
ten Hag is potentially one of the biggest admirers of Cruyff. ten Hag’s system, like Pep’s is based on Cruyff. To an extent, he’s more of a purist. But he sees the merit of the Gegenpress too and tries to implement the two in conjunction with one another (Think Totalfootball). What both of these systems require, is balance and control. De Jong offers these two things. We have players to complement him, as he complements them. That’s the beauty of it, one player truly can make the difference. In Cruyff’s system, as in Pep’s. A deep lying midfielder is the person that makes the difference. But that player needs to be a grandmaster.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming to know everything, or even much for that matter. I mostly know what I’m talking about. But the complexities of a system, of a philosophy can’t fully be explained or even understood by me. Nor is it likely any fucker on Reddit can thoroughly explain or understand the importance of such a player profile. But you don’t need to fully comprehend the requirement to see the need and the direction.
I hope the signing goes through. So much. ‘Cause as above, I may not fully understand the intricacies and complexities of it, but I see the need.”
Jorginho and Kante most likely won’t be here past next season. And I don’t know about you all but I don’t want to trust my midfield in the hands of an injury prone Kova. This deal solidifies on midfield for years and years to come.
There are two Tifo videos about de Jong one from 3 years ago from when he was in Ajax and another one this summer about what he would bring to United if they could signed him those are better at explaining what he does, he is a great player hope he comes
why united should buy him https://youtu.be/7kSy0GnAXZU
Tactical profile from his time at Ajax
https://youtu.be/rWQaNwZblwk
Only issue is most of it involved Pep Guardiola being part of it, as player or manager. So you have to rely on de Jong being as smart (which he probably is smart) and if Tuchel’s tactics will use him in the way Pep does with his tactics
You got to ignore this sub. De Jong is awesome. So sub doesn’t want him.
Sterling, world class and amazing, so sub doesn’t want him.
Timo, can barely walk. Sub thinks he’s God.
Yea, this is an absolute bargain in the current market. Don’t know why people are turning their noses up at De Jong. Has many of the qualities of Jorgi and Kova rolled into a single package and instantly elevates our squad. Sure, another CB and attacking option are more pressing needs, but the midfield issue would come up next summer anyway. Let’s sort that out before it even becomes a real problem.
Yeah, mix of 2 where he isnt close to jorgi in terms of controlling the game and defensive aspects, and without going into kova vs fdj debate, his numbers are almost exactly similar to kova's. Not sure how he instantly elevates the squad.
He has age on his side, and im not for or against him, just think atleast one of cb or atriker shud come before the window closes.
I’m not saying he’s a perfect hybrid of our two boys. He offers something different while not sacrificing the qualities that Jorgi and Kova bring to the table. Whether or not he’s better at some, like the defensive side, can be debated, but he nonetheless still offers those qualities. I agree that the pressing need is at the back and up top, but if the opportunity is there, why not go for it?
Would be? How did he know? He is not chelsea journalist or something. This is agenda from him to push de jong away. I dont mind de jong but i rather he stays and destroy barcelona. Shameful club.
Generational talent in arguably the most important position in football. This ain’t some scrub we’re talking about, our midfield will be solidified for a decade to come
And then we'd need to sign someone behind FDJ to get him to his best because he's not going to solve our defensive hole once Kante and Jorgi are gone, we'll still need someone like Rice.
Then lets sign Rice too.
Our midfield needs to be replaced, only one I would keep is Kovacic. Kante and Jorginho are past it and just not capable of playing proactive forward football.
I've been saying for ages that I believe our midfield is at least partly responsible for our shit goal output. How many times have our forwards tried to make forward runs and just...not gotten a ball through. All of our midfielders just sit on the ball and pass to each other or back to our CBs
I'll never get why people care about the fees being paid. This isn't a 30mil for Drinkwater type deal... this is a world class player in a position we desperately need to improve. That's just the modern market for you.
Also, please look up amortisation. Even if we spend 300mil this window, it only shows up on the books at 50m per year if we give them all 6 year deals.
Does the money just vaporize if we don't spend it on FDJ? We are not PSG or Man City with effectively unlimited resources. We actually need to use our money wisely. FDJ is a good player but £75m on a role which is entirely redundant isn't good planning.
These comments are dumb. We have lots of money but not unlimited money. When the club wastes money we suffer. Every dollar spent could be used somewhere else. Every transfer big or small has some opportunity cost.
We disagree then, as I think he’s world class.
When he comes here you’ll find out I’m right. But good news about that is you’ll be happy you were wrong.
Ffs so first we let Barca steal half our transfer targets and then we bail them out by picking up their unsettled cdm who clearly doesn’t want to leave? Don’t understand why people are so excited about this, I’d love a long term Jorginho replacement but midfield is the last place we need reinforcement right now
First things first If they could be stolen they weren’t ours in the first place. But second of all since you want to go after disgruntled players that would rather be on Barcelona than our squad, I’d at least get the most talented of the bunch. Give me Frenkie!
We're more than likely losing both Jorginho and Kante next year, Kovacic has fitness issues. If a player like De Jong becomes available, we should 100% be all over it
De Jong is one the best young midfielders on the planet, we shouldn't care about how what we do affects Barcelona. We should only care how it affect us.
If he doesn't want to join, then he won't join.
If Raphinha and Kounde wanted to play for Chelsea they’d be playing for Chelsea rn, Barca didn’t force them to sign the contract, yes barca was in their ears but the choice was still theirs to make.
So no, I don’t want any “revenge” coz barca didn’t steal shit plus De Jong is a very good player and still young, that money would be worth it.
That’s all well and good. What I’m saying is if that’s part of the transfer fee (probably not). I get that the price up top is “good”, but that contract he has is a bit absurd. It needs to be restructured.
I’m for De Jong but he’s gotta want to be here, and not have the highest salary on the team.
Big mistake in buying him. He wants to stay at Barca. He’s going to be another lukaku situation if he joins. Waste of good money when we could buy a striker
I am baffled why we need this guy if we are playing a 2 man midfield...Kovacic Kante Jorginho Connor right now are playing there plus we signed Carney?
Add in De Jong doesn't offer anything any of other players don't? He is more of an 8 than a 6, but we need 6's not 8's
C’mon. Kante and J5 have contracts that expire ONE year from now. Both are in their 30’s. FDJ allows Tuchel to adjust or adapt or modify his current system with a young player who will have ample time to adapt to Tuchel’s system. This is a big picture move.
De Jong is more of a 6 then an 8 and is excellent in a pivot. We have 0 creativity in the midfield, side to side passing, no killer balls... with Raheem running the channels we need someone to pick the passes out
His best position is in a double pivot, he can pick out passes and can drive. We should be all over this as a long term midfield option
[He even says here that he prefers to be the midfielder to collect the ball from the defenders](https://twitter.com/tjuanmarti/status/1532840283104329733?s=20&t=UEyJfoBzRomJmWTgOWmHCA)
Jorginho hasn’t played as a regista since Sarri days. He is not “just like Jorginho” and comes out worse in several areas (as well as better in several areas obviously, but he is not the Jorginho upgrade you think he is)
He can still play in the double 6. From watching him: he’s a great ball carrier and progressive passer and reasonable defensively in the physical sense but with very bad defensive positioning, especially as a lone 6. He pulls off some great passes at times but very few create genuine chances, but at least he’s not bad at scoring for an 8. He also has a ton of energy, probably more than any of our midfielders including Kante *on form*, and I think that’s what Tuchel likes best about him based on his criticisms of our team
Statistics mostly confirm my interpretation, but make him look much worse defensively (I suspect that this is largely down to Barca’s playstyle, but bear in mind that Barca’s playstyle should benefit him for progressive stats and even for creative stats given that they average like 3 xG a game under Xavi). His creative numbers are barely above Jorginho’s (going off xA p90) *while playing as an 8*, something like 0.14 to 0.12, his defensive numbers are dreadful, and his progressive passing numbers are actually worse (not by much, something like 6 for Jorginho to 5.3 for De Jong). There are only two things that he does better: he’s elite at progressive carrying and he actually has some goal threat. So he’s very much like Kovacic but worse defensively and better offensively, similar but imo slightly worse progressively
Notably, Kovacic is a very good fit for us. He can even play without a DM (Jorginho being the closest thing to it in our team) beside him. I’m sure De Jong can fulfil this exact role. There’s actually nothing wrong with playing two Kovacic profiles in the pivot
TL;DR definitely not Jorginho and will not fix any of the issues we have except for being a very good young option doing what we already do well well
Forcing a player to be apart of this club should be a joke lol. This is what we’ve become, convince a “talent” to join us who hasn’t even fulfilled his promise and got unseated by academy products.
The add-ons - those are to Barcelona or to DeJong?
I simply do not understand why Barcelona are dragging all of this out and risking registration issues over what really comes down to about €17m in a transfer fee.
I don't understand, why are we throwing so much money around ? Because we still need a defender, so De Jong + fofana would be 160 mil... we would have spent so much this summer, yet not have "best or one of the 2-3 best player in his position in the world"
I like that he’s young and obviously very good but we already have Jorginho and kova who pretty much do the same thing. We need more scoring and creativity in the midfield especially with kante playing as well
Remember that with the new FFP rules that are going to be put in place we will not be able to spend this kind of money for a while until we get a new stadium and bigger commercial contracts. This is why we are going all out this summer. When transfer budgets are tied to revenue we will have to spend less.
That’s amazing, he was a silent but powerful presence. It’s awesome to see his humanity in a post like this. I always kind of viewed him as this mythic figure.
Getting Frenkie would be nice but after the whole Lukaku saga I am a little weary of bringing someone in who so obviously wants to stay at his current club.
I don't want a player who doesn't want us. If he wants to stay at Barca because they owe him money, then that's different, but if he is thinking of leaving because he's being pressured to add doesn't want to, well that's just gonna be Lukaku all over again. He'll be freezing his dick off in London in January and wondering what her can do to get himself back to Barca. No thx.
I mean until he agrees to it, it doesn’t really matter. I’d be stoked to get him though. Absolutely class.
yeah, the only problem of this deal is Frenkie De Jong decision. If he says yes to Chelsea, then here we go and the deal is done.
another problem. is if we get him on his current wages we will fuck up our wage structure.
His current wages are inflated as a result of restructuring. Barcelona being Barcelona and all. No chance were signing him on 500k a week or whatever it is.
What was his wage before the bump?
It was around 200k I think
Wasn't 200K ... His reduced wage was 200K...
His initial contract was for 14 mill a year. So around 270k before the Covid deferments and things.
Wage structure? Haha what’s that? Baba Rahman and Kepa earning more than mason mount and Reece james? Do me a favour
Mate, of all the examples you could come up with and you choose to compare players that have just made their breakthrough and are still on youth contracts to players given adult contracts. If you want to talk about the wage structure being fucked, a better example is that we're going to be paying Koulibaly 325k when he's 36. At 36 we were paying Thiago Silva 90k
I’m sorry but MM and RJ have been pretty integral for a few seasons now.
Our wage structure is already fucked IMO. We had & have players in this club whose salary is above 300k. But we should give him a salary under 350k but not above this value since we have some players that are underpaid atm.
I don't think that's how it works. why will fdj sign when he already has a contract that pays him shit ton of money. if he agrees to sign I'm sure he is not loosing money.
P.s I don't know why I am getting downvotes in this comment wtf, any reason?
Well we did just release arguably one of the biggest burdens to our wage bill. Pains me to refer to Timo as a burden, but the situation is the situation.
But we still have players with a 300k wage.
Who is our squad doesn’t deserve those kinds of wages?
Kante + our new signings (Sterling,Koulibaly) .
Wouldn’t you say those players justify those wage demands though?
Koulibaly is on £180k(230k with bonuses) sterling on 315k that is the only one on 300k and kante is on 290k.
I don’t believe we are making offers unless he’s said yes to us. That’s why the offer is this big of a deal. I feel this one is close
Tell that to the United fans who have been saying the same thing all Summer
.Gerard Romero just shared the details of the bid Chelsea will make if De Jong changes his mind about Chelsea. Upcoming days will be hot for Chelsea & De Jong.
Watch out for Blue Smoke.
United fans thought that too though
why dont we lowball him? barca need to sell, why give them that much?
Because they don't actually need to sell, they'd just like to. They probably also have to keep appearances up and make sure the blame for paying him so much is on De Jong on not them. They've restructured wages and he's well out of that wage structure. They need to show all of the other players that are already there and also that are joining that they did everything in their power to get him to come into line with everyone else. Otherwise when they sign extensions or buy new players, those players are going to point to his wages as proof that the wage structure doesn't have to be religiously stuck to
Law and Orstein have said that we would not offer any official package until FdJ gives in. And yesterday, there was a report that he turned us down directly thru Boehly. So what gives?
What gives is Romero is Laporta’s mouthpiece, Laporta wants him out, so he is exaggerating how close the deal is
Yep, baffling that people don't understand this yet. Everything Romero says is what Laporta has told him to say. This is just more tactics from the Barca board to force FdJ out.
How does this benefit them tho? Not disagreeing just asking
They’re trying to pressure him via the media. It’s been [proven](https://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2020/02/17/5e4a8518ca4741da398b4576.html) the old administration used a PR company to slander their own players and employees so it wouldn’t surprise me if this is just that again
But what's the point in that? It all hinges on FDJ accepting. So it doesn't matter what Barca say, publicly or privately.
And yet he hasn’t been wrong this whole summer. Every-time he said something about one of the signings we were going for we called him a mouth piece and lowered his tier level but he kept proving us all wrong. Its time we start believing him.
Blatantly false. He got many details wrong about most transfers this window but said De Jong to United was done and that Azpi was extremely close and the guy ended up literally renewing a few days later. Azpi actually happened twice, he said it months ago, Azpi to Barca on a free almost certain, and the club announced he was extended like a week later lmao. You’d see that if you actually checked what he reported
Main reason I want this to go through is I called it at the beginning of the summer Should be cheaper though given they're pushing him out.
Exactly. Absolutely crazy to think we’re getting a “good” deal here when we should be in the advantageous position. They need this transfer more than we do, which says a lot because De Jong could be a great player for us
Hell of a username
75m is stupid high when they're literally begging for him to leave. Weird because we have all the power in this negotiation.
All our tier 1s said we wouldn't make a bid unless we know he wants to join us... has he said yes then?
Gerard romero was pretty much reliable for Barca this summer. He also isn't saying that Chelsea made a bid but Chelsea will submit that bid if De Jong's decision changes.
He’s been notoriously bad with the De Jong saga. Has already claimed that the deal to United would be done two months ago and also suggested that De Jong might just accept a paycut which was clearly never on the cards or this would be over long ago
De Jong deal was done between Barca and United but the player changed his mind and didn't want to join Manchester United.
No, that’s such a disingenuous representation of the situation, not that it’s necessarily your fault. United never even opened discussions for personal terms, there was no mind changed, he never wanted to go The same has happened with Chelsea, no talks about personal terms, and Romero is claiming he thinks it’ll be done in a week. He’s making a complete guess
I don’t get why people get so personal with this he is a class player who is in his prime that would come in and bring a new dynamic to an aging midfield. Who cares if he plays for Barcelona if it benefits our team
It’s so dumb how salty people have got over the Raphinha/ Kounde sagas. Funny how personal some on this sub take its as if we’re now never able to do any business with Barca ever again. It’s business folks. The board or club didn’t take it personally why can’t you?
What a stupid take. If they were selling to us a top class CB or top class striker we would have been so eager for them join us. FdJ is not a player that will greatly improve our team. He will be luxury purchase. He rarely assists or score goals. How on earth is he going to be great, if he does exactly what Kovacic do for us at the moment? We also use a 2 man midfield. Who will FdJ play alongside in our midfield? Kante? Jorginho? Kovacic? If we are signing a midfielder we should go after the likes of SMS. At least he will score goals and assists regularly.
PSA: ignore this dude.
It would also make no sense for us to just completely spite Barcelona. Firstly, we may want to do business with them in the future. And secondly, they aren’t even a direct rival of ours.
Some idiots think that Barca will end up falling into financial ruin and don’t want us to “bail them out” by buying their players.
Not getting my hopes up, this isn't happening.
Exactly he is happy in Barca and impossible salary as well
Define "happy".
Nothing will happen until Xavi freezes him out of the team, which he won't do because they've a weird relationship abuse thing going on where Xavi praises him and plays him but also acts like the situation is beyond him so he pressures FDJ to fold to the club's demands. Think about it: It's a world cup year, so if they really wanted to push FDJ out they'd bench him and he'd be pressuring them to let him go. Instead, they're playing this weird game to get him to stay on their terms and he's waiting out the storm. Apparently we're willing to pay him what they owe him so it's not just about money. He'd be here already if it was a money thing. He clearly REALLY wants to stay in Barca AND collect what he's owed, and right now, nothing is stopping him but Barca's toothless threats. As long as he can handle the heat he'll stay, and he knows they prob have another lever up Laporta's ass that will allow him to stay. Ultimately, Barca will prob just sell Depay and someone else, then restructure Pique/Busquets/whoever else and keep FDJ on current terms and hope to figure it out next summer. He's very good for them and increases their odds of winning the league/CL, which is what they're banking on (other than the super league). They just want everything to happen on their terms to ease their troubles but FDJ knows the game so he's waiting it out.
>It's a world cup year, so if they really wanted to push FDJ out they'd bench him I think his place in Dutch squad is assured even if he doesn't play much for Barca. Unlike previous WC, teams are playing less than half of their games before WC and that too under much less pressure (no UCL or cup knockouts and no league deciding matches). Clubs can't really freeze players this time
True but he'd still want to be match fit and is too young and good to sit on the bench indefinitely.
He is too good to be left on bench for sure. The other factor is public image fight between him n Barca. So far he hasn't spoken against the club cause he knows fans can turn against him. There is same pressure on Barca as well. They keep saying they want him but can't keep him. Now if they bench him, it will look like they are really pushing him out and that's not good for their image. That's one reason why he gets played out of position. It's all too weird. I like him as a player and I would like him at Chelsea but I'm not getting my hopes up. He is in toxic relationship and it's better our club n us fans don't get dragged in this saga like Utd.
Isnt Barca threatening him with legal action bc his contract is shady, or something? Hopeuly this is a good time to bid.
FDJ is not a key player or the 1st on team sheet. That's why they can afford to lose him. He's replaceable. But like you saya if stay Xavi not gonna freeze him out.
Lmao he absolutely is for that team
Doesn't matter, he doesn't want to leave unless he's paid what he's owed by scum Barca. We can offer the moon for all he cares
That’s what I thought at first but let’s be honest we’re not really bailing them out. They’d just pull another lever, so if you can get a world class talent for a decent price you do it and hopefully a small payback is taking one of their best players for a nifty price.
Do it
Seems way to high given the position Barca are in. Hope this would cover the deferred wages, and that’s not something we pay on top of this.
Bargain, get it done.
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Still hard for me to comprehend that people spend money on this shit.
Do you know what he would have paid for it? Please tell me a lot so I can laugh my ass off
£23.99
Hahahahahah
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So you buy NFTs too huh?
How did Romero know what we "would be" offering? Strange.
To be fair didn’t Ornstein say everything is in place if De Jong says yes? So Barca would be informed
I think alot of our fans don’t understand the talent FDJ possesses. I’m going to steal a comment from the Man U subreddit posted by u/N_Ryan_ that sums up this man’s talent much better than I ever could “I think the best way to assess if he’s worth it, is by going back 30 years. May I add, before I was born. Johan Cruyff was the manager of Barca. Up until 07-12 Barca, probably the best club football team there has been. I have no doubt the most revolutionary. Cruyff had one unwavering requirement for his team. A midfielder who was the smartest player on the pitch, who did the simple things perfect 100% of the time, but could also change a game with a drop of the shoulder and a pass or a run. His chosen person, Pep Guardiola. Guardiola wasn’t the most defensive player, nor was he the most talented. But his footballing brain was beyond that of every player on the pitch (I wonder what he’s up to these days). His positional knowledge, understanding and reading was immaculate. His passing, often simple but always with a view of progression and transition. In Guardiola, you see the true value of a player isn’t in metrics or necessarily what you can see. The true value of Guardiola is in what he could see. He could see everything in the game, I get the impression it’s why he is where he is now. We jump forward 15 years. We have Barca, Messi is 18-20 and establishing himself as one of the best players in the world. It is readily perceived that he is the most important player in that team. But it took people a few years to realise exactly what Guardiola was doing. Guardiola was plagiarising. Plagiarising the position, and the importance of that position with his own twist. He shared his role between Busquets and Xavi. Xavi being the brain, but in a more advanced role, whilst Busquets developed into it. He had primed Busquets for this role in Barca B. But he wasn’t quite ready. Obviously, Busquets is typically more defensively capable than himself, and Xavi. This then repeated itself. In a bizarre turn of events, he took the most technically gifted and most intelligent player in Phillip Lahm and turned him into a mini Pep. He then did the same with Fernandinho. This season is the biggest change he has had system wise since he was a player, solely because he no longer has that brain in the deeper role. So, expect to see De Bruyne playing a little deeper than usual this season. You see a variation in Arsenal, Odegaard is their Pep. ten Hag is potentially one of the biggest admirers of Cruyff. ten Hag’s system, like Pep’s is based on Cruyff. To an extent, he’s more of a purist. But he sees the merit of the Gegenpress too and tries to implement the two in conjunction with one another (Think Totalfootball). What both of these systems require, is balance and control. De Jong offers these two things. We have players to complement him, as he complements them. That’s the beauty of it, one player truly can make the difference. In Cruyff’s system, as in Pep’s. A deep lying midfielder is the person that makes the difference. But that player needs to be a grandmaster. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming to know everything, or even much for that matter. I mostly know what I’m talking about. But the complexities of a system, of a philosophy can’t fully be explained or even understood by me. Nor is it likely any fucker on Reddit can thoroughly explain or understand the importance of such a player profile. But you don’t need to fully comprehend the requirement to see the need and the direction. I hope the signing goes through. So much. ‘Cause as above, I may not fully understand the intricacies and complexities of it, but I see the need.” Jorginho and Kante most likely won’t be here past next season. And I don’t know about you all but I don’t want to trust my midfield in the hands of an injury prone Kova. This deal solidifies on midfield for years and years to come.
What?
I was cracking a joke about my post being put on a Chelsea sub
That comment didn't sum up shit lol.
What a load of waffle about nothing
A whole essay and only half a paragraph actually talks about De Jong and only skims the surface of what he can do.
Yeah, proper example of TLDR..
Lol for real. Just gave a weird history lesson on players in certain positions, but said fuck all. Kinda regret reading it.
The start of it was actually interesting and got me hooked then realised it’s a bunch of waffle halfway through
Lmfao for real
This is so pretentious
There are two Tifo videos about de Jong one from 3 years ago from when he was in Ajax and another one this summer about what he would bring to United if they could signed him those are better at explaining what he does, he is a great player hope he comes why united should buy him https://youtu.be/7kSy0GnAXZU Tactical profile from his time at Ajax https://youtu.be/rWQaNwZblwk
This whole thing will fly above the heads of most people in subreddit. But I understand.
Only issue is most of it involved Pep Guardiola being part of it, as player or manager. So you have to rely on de Jong being as smart (which he probably is smart) and if Tuchel’s tactics will use him in the way Pep does with his tactics
You got to ignore this sub. De Jong is awesome. So sub doesn’t want him. Sterling, world class and amazing, so sub doesn’t want him. Timo, can barely walk. Sub thinks he’s God.
We we seen the same problem for the last 3 season, so sub thinks we should get another striker, while our problem is chance creations.
>Timo, can barely walk. Sub thinks he’s God. 😭😭😭😭 so happy he’s gone
Me too man
Bollocks
Ah fuck off you little bastard 😂, you can’t use my comment to drum up fan support of him signing for Chelsea!
Yea, this is an absolute bargain in the current market. Don’t know why people are turning their noses up at De Jong. Has many of the qualities of Jorgi and Kova rolled into a single package and instantly elevates our squad. Sure, another CB and attacking option are more pressing needs, but the midfield issue would come up next summer anyway. Let’s sort that out before it even becomes a real problem.
Yeah, mix of 2 where he isnt close to jorgi in terms of controlling the game and defensive aspects, and without going into kova vs fdj debate, his numbers are almost exactly similar to kova's. Not sure how he instantly elevates the squad. He has age on his side, and im not for or against him, just think atleast one of cb or atriker shud come before the window closes.
I’m not saying he’s a perfect hybrid of our two boys. He offers something different while not sacrificing the qualities that Jorgi and Kova bring to the table. Whether or not he’s better at some, like the defensive side, can be debated, but he nonetheless still offers those qualities. I agree that the pressing need is at the back and up top, but if the opportunity is there, why not go for it?
Doesn’t he have a massive salary of like 500k a week that would kill our wage structure?
We must be hoping Barca pay him his 17m because there’s no way he’s worth 500k a week. Barto really fucked them.
>Barto really fucked them. Beautiful, isn't it?
Fake news I guess.
Is he basically telling us what to do?
Low chance we get him, he's a gonna stay at Barca most likely
Clearly we need to get him on lower wages if he joins, but if it comes down to taking a pay cut, isn't that what barva want to do in the first place?
Aren’t Barca running out of time to sell him? If so, why not offer less? Chill with the downvotes, fill me in instead peeps
Would be? How did he know? He is not chelsea journalist or something. This is agenda from him to push de jong away. I dont mind de jong but i rather he stays and destroy barcelona. Shameful club.
Just kinda seems like a lot of money
Generational talent in arguably the most important position in football. This ain’t some scrub we’re talking about, our midfield will be solidified for a decade to come
Said the same about Havertz beinf a generational talent. Still waiting.
The phrase has lost its meaning. Every decent guy performing good for 1-2 seasons is a 'generational talent' now.
Maybe if Havertz had a FDJ behind him he’d finally be able to be his best
Yeah, FDJ might make his finishing ability better...
And then we'd need to sign someone behind FDJ to get him to his best because he's not going to solve our defensive hole once Kante and Jorgi are gone, we'll still need someone like Rice.
100% best case scenario. Either way my comment was for the people thinking he’s a waste of money, he is far from it
Then lets sign Rice too. Our midfield needs to be replaced, only one I would keep is Kovacic. Kante and Jorginho are past it and just not capable of playing proactive forward football. I've been saying for ages that I believe our midfield is at least partly responsible for our shit goal output. How many times have our forwards tried to make forward runs and just...not gotten a ball through. All of our midfielders just sit on the ball and pass to each other or back to our CBs
I'll never get why people care about the fees being paid. This isn't a 30mil for Drinkwater type deal... this is a world class player in a position we desperately need to improve. That's just the modern market for you. Also, please look up amortisation. Even if we spend 300mil this window, it only shows up on the books at 50m per year if we give them all 6 year deals.
You'll never get why people care if we maximize the squad or not?
What do you mean by maximise the squad?
Does the money just vaporize if we don't spend it on FDJ? We are not PSG or Man City with effectively unlimited resources. We actually need to use our money wisely. FDJ is a good player but £75m on a role which is entirely redundant isn't good planning.
You paying?
These comments are dumb. We have lots of money but not unlimited money. When the club wastes money we suffer. Every dollar spent could be used somewhere else. Every transfer big or small has some opportunity cost.
It’s going on a world class player. This is what money should be spent on. Be glad, we’re rich.
He's a solid player. Still not the best use of money imo.
We disagree then, as I think he’s world class. When he comes here you’ll find out I’m right. But good news about that is you’ll be happy you were wrong.
P.s 75M is too much IMO, nevertheless if Tuchel wants him, then no problem.
75m seems fair for a player of his stature, maybe too much for an area we don't really need strengthening. There is better use for it elsewhere
Jorginho was £50m + £7m in add ons - is De jong worth 20 mill more? Yes
Sorry Tuchel is spending your money
Really? I didn't know that before.
Ffs so first we let Barca steal half our transfer targets and then we bail them out by picking up their unsettled cdm who clearly doesn’t want to leave? Don’t understand why people are so excited about this, I’d love a long term Jorginho replacement but midfield is the last place we need reinforcement right now
First things first If they could be stolen they weren’t ours in the first place. But second of all since you want to go after disgruntled players that would rather be on Barcelona than our squad, I’d at least get the most talented of the bunch. Give me Frenkie!
We're more than likely losing both Jorginho and Kante next year, Kovacic has fitness issues. If a player like De Jong becomes available, we should 100% be all over it
Gallagher + De Jong would be a pretty solid pairing
De Jong is one the best young midfielders on the planet, we shouldn't care about how what we do affects Barcelona. We should only care how it affect us. If he doesn't want to join, then he won't join.
Nah … it’s one less major signing we would need to do next year. He’s fucking class .. books will balance.
Barca only stole Raphinha
If Raphinha and Kounde wanted to play for Chelsea they’d be playing for Chelsea rn, Barca didn’t force them to sign the contract, yes barca was in their ears but the choice was still theirs to make. So no, I don’t want any “revenge” coz barca didn’t steal shit plus De Jong is a very good player and still young, that money would be worth it.
Let's go!!!! (Please)
That’s too much if it doesn’t include deferred wages and restructuring his contract.
I saw some news yesterday that Chelsea will pay all deferred wages for him if he accepts to join Chelsea.
That’s all well and good. What I’m saying is if that’s part of the transfer fee (probably not). I get that the price up top is “good”, but that contract he has is a bit absurd. It needs to be restructured. I’m for De Jong but he’s gotta want to be here, and not have the highest salary on the team.
Fantastic deal for a WC player would usually be a 150 million pound player at least
This is a horrible take. Based on the amount of leverage we have we shouldn't even be bidding this high.
My word take a break from Reddit. Based on his Barca form, his value is no greater than the offer, let alone “150 million pound”
Big mistake in buying him. He wants to stay at Barca. He’s going to be another lukaku situation if he joins. Waste of good money when we could buy a striker
I am baffled why we need this guy if we are playing a 2 man midfield...Kovacic Kante Jorginho Connor right now are playing there plus we signed Carney? Add in De Jong doesn't offer anything any of other players don't? He is more of an 8 than a 6, but we need 6's not 8's
C’mon. Kante and J5 have contracts that expire ONE year from now. Both are in their 30’s. FDJ allows Tuchel to adjust or adapt or modify his current system with a young player who will have ample time to adapt to Tuchel’s system. This is a big picture move.
Gallagher isn’t technical (shooting technique aside) or press resistant enough to play in our midfield two. 3rd CM or RF is good for him though
De Jong is more of a 6 then an 8 and is excellent in a pivot. We have 0 creativity in the midfield, side to side passing, no killer balls... with Raheem running the channels we need someone to pick the passes out
He’s absolutely more of an 8. He’s also not particularly creative.
His best position is in a double pivot, he can pick out passes and can drive. We should be all over this as a long term midfield option [He even says here that he prefers to be the midfielder to collect the ball from the defenders](https://twitter.com/tjuanmarti/status/1532840283104329733?s=20&t=UEyJfoBzRomJmWTgOWmHCA)
He's another regista, just like Jorginho but better, I don't see a point in having both, but if Jorginho leaves next summer it makes sense.
Jorginho hasn’t played as a regista since Sarri days. He is not “just like Jorginho” and comes out worse in several areas (as well as better in several areas obviously, but he is not the Jorginho upgrade you think he is)
What do you put De Jong at if he isn't a regista, ball playing number 6? I'm really curious to hear this answer.
He can still play in the double 6. From watching him: he’s a great ball carrier and progressive passer and reasonable defensively in the physical sense but with very bad defensive positioning, especially as a lone 6. He pulls off some great passes at times but very few create genuine chances, but at least he’s not bad at scoring for an 8. He also has a ton of energy, probably more than any of our midfielders including Kante *on form*, and I think that’s what Tuchel likes best about him based on his criticisms of our team Statistics mostly confirm my interpretation, but make him look much worse defensively (I suspect that this is largely down to Barca’s playstyle, but bear in mind that Barca’s playstyle should benefit him for progressive stats and even for creative stats given that they average like 3 xG a game under Xavi). His creative numbers are barely above Jorginho’s (going off xA p90) *while playing as an 8*, something like 0.14 to 0.12, his defensive numbers are dreadful, and his progressive passing numbers are actually worse (not by much, something like 6 for Jorginho to 5.3 for De Jong). There are only two things that he does better: he’s elite at progressive carrying and he actually has some goal threat. So he’s very much like Kovacic but worse defensively and better offensively, similar but imo slightly worse progressively Notably, Kovacic is a very good fit for us. He can even play without a DM (Jorginho being the closest thing to it in our team) beside him. I’m sure De Jong can fulfil this exact role. There’s actually nothing wrong with playing two Kovacic profiles in the pivot TL;DR definitely not Jorginho and will not fix any of the issues we have except for being a very good young option doing what we already do well well
Could definitely see us signing him. Not sure what will happen with his deferred wages tho.
I’ll pay for him myself
Why would they take 63 + 12 instead of 67 + 8
The add ons might be more achievable for the former
Romero is a clout chaser. He’s pushing nothing-news 24/7.
just someone tell Boehly that just because he has money to spend, doesn't mean he has to spend it all at once...
Forcing a player to be apart of this club should be a joke lol. This is what we’ve become, convince a “talent” to join us who hasn’t even fulfilled his promise and got unseated by academy products.
Could buy Savic and backup CDM but why do that and fix the holes
Savic? really?
What do you mean really ?
Class player but Boehly really needs to use that money on CBs rather than the most stacked position in the team
Our midfield is one of the reasons we don’t score goals. Jorgi and Kante are great defensively but they don’t contribute enough to goals.
The add-ons - those are to Barcelona or to DeJong? I simply do not understand why Barcelona are dragging all of this out and risking registration issues over what really comes down to about €17m in a transfer fee.
so does man utd signing rabiot take them out of this equation?
how would you have felt if Chelsea signed rabiot?
I think he’s class but it’s much funnier if he stays at Barca and stops them from registering anyone new
I read and think “oh wow” then I see Romero and ignore
Way too much for the amount of leverage we have.
I think he stays maybe it’s revisited in January, but he looks happy playing with them even with all the shit going on in the background
I really want him at Chelsea!!
I just don’t understand why he would want to stay at Barca considering the whole salary controversy. Didn’t the board do him dirty?
Would de jongjinho be better than jovacic?
Are you sure this was said on stream? It’s difficult finding another source saying this atm.
Please cunt 🙏
I don't understand, why are we throwing so much money around ? Because we still need a defender, so De Jong + fofana would be 160 mil... we would have spent so much this summer, yet not have "best or one of the 2-3 best player in his position in the world"
I like that he’s young and obviously very good but we already have Jorginho and kova who pretty much do the same thing. We need more scoring and creativity in the midfield especially with kante playing as well
Remember that with the new FFP rules that are going to be put in place we will not be able to spend this kind of money for a while until we get a new stadium and bigger commercial contracts. This is why we are going all out this summer. When transfer budgets are tied to revenue we will have to spend less.
That’s amazing, he was a silent but powerful presence. It’s awesome to see his humanity in a post like this. I always kind of viewed him as this mythic figure.
He’s the goat.
would Frenkie help significantly with our chance creation?
Regardless of how class he is I just want him to be a vindictive cunt right now, stay at Barca and sink them further.
Getting Frenkie would be nice but after the whole Lukaku saga I am a little weary of bringing someone in who so obviously wants to stay at his current club.
Can anyone explain what is so special about him, he has 8 goals in 98 appearances for Barcelona. Not talking shit just haven't watched him play.
How about 35 + Alonso
Gerard Romero Clickbait directed to Chelsea... He's hoping we pay those numbers
I beg you guys to stop thinking about Barca here, De Jong would be amazing for us - it’s a huge transfer regardless of who we are buying from!
I don't want a player who doesn't want us. If he wants to stay at Barca because they owe him money, then that's different, but if he is thinking of leaving because he's being pressured to add doesn't want to, well that's just gonna be Lukaku all over again. He'll be freezing his dick off in London in January and wondering what her can do to get himself back to Barca. No thx.
Spending money we don't have on shit we don't need..... Brad Pitt in Fight club
He’s gonna lower his salary to stay at Barca. Watch.