Barcelona issue £426m warning as Manchester United eye Frenkie de Jong transfer

Senior Barcelona official Eduard Romeu has extraordinarily claimed that £426m (€500m) is needed to “save” the club, meaning a host of players could be leaving including Manchester United target Frenkie de Jong.

As reported by the Manchester Evening News last month, United are interested in signing the Barcelona midfielder and are weighing up a big-money offer. United are desperate to strengthen their midfield options this summer and De Jong is a leading target for manager Erik ten Hag.

Barcelona have debts of around €1bn (£850m), according to the Athletic, and as a result have been hit hard by La Liga’s financial rules.

READ MORE: Manchester United fans go wild as Frenkie de Jong 'admits he wants transfer'

Spain’s salary cap rules this season meant Barcelona were forced to let Lionel Messi leave for Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer last summer. For context, Real Madrid were allowed to spend seven times as much on wages.

Now, new arrivals Andreas Christensen from Chelsea and Franck Kessie from AC Milan - also both free transfers - are not yet able to register with the club due to their restricted salary freedoms.

Speaking to Sport, Romeu said: “The number doing the most damage is asset imbalance. The negative capital of €500 million. You could add €150m to that in losses this season if we didn’t do anything.

“I said it before, if someone wants give me €500 million... That is what we need to save Barca.”

Several current squad members have reduced their wages to help Barcelona bring in new players over the past 12 months. But the club may still need to sell some of their big names this summer, with De Jong potentially being one of them, which would be good news for United.

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