Frenkie de Jong to Man Utd: How Ajax signed midfielder for €1 from Willem II in 2015

Manchester United are reportedly close to signing Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong in a deal worth up to €80 million.

The news was broken by journalist Gerardo Romero on Wednesday evening, per Football Espana, and it’s claimed there’s a 95 per cent probability that the transfer will go through over the coming weeks.

Romero adds that Barcelona’s decision to sell De Jong is purely due to financial reasons. To ease the club’s financial concerns, the Catalan giants are now prepared to cash-in on the Netherlands international, who arrived at Camp Nou from Ajax for €86 million in 2019.

De Jong was sensational during his final season at Ajax, where he flourished under United’s incoming manager, Erik ten Hag.

The Dutch duo, who reached the Champions League semi-finals together in 2018-19, are now poised to reunite at Old Trafford ahead of the 2022-23 campaign if Romero’s information is correct.

It’s unclear whether Ajax inserted a sell-on clause as part of the big-money deal that saw De Jong leave Amsterdam for Barcelona.

The Eredivisie outfit made a staggering profit on the midfielder when they sold him three years ago.

Per The Mirror, Ajax’s former director of football Marc Overmars was the brains behind the deal which saw De Jong join the Dutch giants from Willem II in 2015.

Unusually, though, Ajax only paid a ’symbolic’ €1 fee – yes, that really is €1, not €1 million – for the talented youngster, per The Sun’s Dream Team and others.

However, there’s no need to feel too sorry for De Jong’s first club, Willem II.

The Dutch outfit reportedly secured a 10 per cent sell-on clause as part of the deal, banking on the prospect of De Jong developing at Ajax before being sold for a big profit.

Frenkie de Jong2015: Moved from