Ronaldo rejects huge £275m offer in Saudi Arabia

Manchester United have agreed a £63.5m deal with Barcelona for Frenkie de Jong, but there is still no guarantee the move will go ahead.

Senior club figures have travelled to Barcelona to try to push through a deal for the Netherlands midfielder, 25.

They now know what they have to pay for manager Erik ten Hag’s key target, with the agreed deal equating to a bigger up-front payment and £8.5m in add-ons.

However, the player’s dispute with Barcelona is threatening the move.

The contractual disagreement centres on deferred payments that were included in the playmaker’s new four-year deal that only became active on 1 July.

There have been widespread reports in Spain that Barcelona have told De Jong he needs to leave for financial reasons.

However, the former Ajax player knows the Catalan must honour his contract if he chooses to remain at the Nou Camp and he is understood to be reluctant to leave without an agreement over his exit terms, which would take into account the deferred payments.

United have alternatives should De Jong not join but are willing to give the situation more time to resolve itself before taking an alternative course.

Meanwhile, the club are also still unsure if Cristiano Ronaldo will return to pre-season training.

Confirmation that Chelsea are no longer interested in signing the 37-year-old has reduced his options away from Old Trafford.

BBC Sport understands the Portugal forward will reject a huge offer to play in Saudi Arabia because he wants to keep playing at the highest possible level.

The offer was £30m to United and around £275m for Ronaldo.

Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid remain possibilities for the former Real Madrid player, as does staying at United.

Culled from BBCSports

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