Manchester United could sign their perfect Frenkie de Jong alternative next summer

After being a constant topic of conversation among Manchester United's supporters since May, Frenkie de Jong finally gave his side of one of the longest transfer sagas in recent history earlier this week.

The Barcelona midfielder was Erik ten Hag's top target to strengthen his midfield options during the summer and United did all they could to try and ensure he got what he wanted. But despite agreeing a fee with Barcelona, following countless rounds of talks, they were unable to make a deal possible, leaving Ten Hag to look elsewhere for reinforcements.

De Jong, though, never had any desire to swap the Camp Nou for Old Trafford and recently admitted that he always wanted to stay in Spain. He stopped short of giving away too many details, but he made it crystal clear that he wasn't fussed about moving to Old Trafford.

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The Dutchman said: "I always wanted to stay at Barcelona this summer, and this is why I always remained calm in the summer. I can't give too many details away.

"But look, the club has its own ideas and I have my own ideas, too, and sometimes these clash with each other. But at the end of the day things went okay."

Once it became clear that they were going to have to look elsewhere, United hovered their recruitment microscope over Real Madrid's squad and picked out Casemiro as the man they wanted. The Brazilian, who has started just once for United so far, was the type of midfielder that they had needed from the very start of the window, but he was a completely different type of player to De Jong.

The 4-0 defeat at Brentford, however, opened United's eyes and made them realise they needed a defensive-midfielder. Failure to sign one would have