Barcelona handed transfer ban as Erik ten Hag reignites Frenkie de Jong interest

Barcelona have been banned from entering the transfer market this summer until they raise a total of £177 million.

Barcelona have suffered from financial issues for a number of seasons now, having to activate a series of economic levels on multiple occasions.

Multiple reports state that they are currently thought to be holding a debt of around £1 billion, and have been informed that they must raise almost £200 million this summer before they are allowed to enter the transfer market.

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This will likely spell good news for Erik ten Hag and Manchester United, who may be able to use the situation in order to engineer a move to the club for Frenkie de Jong.

“As of today, Barcelona doesn’t have any room in its budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window,’ LaLiga chief Javier Tebas said on Thursday in London, at the Financial Times’ Business of Football summit via the Daily Mail.

“Barcelona has been involved in questionable behaviour which has had an impact on LaLiga and we are acting accordingly. We have ruled that they can no longer sign more players.

“They sold off £620m (€700m) in TV rights and tried to find different ways to solve the situation but they won’t be able to do that next season. We have strict economic controls. At the end of each window, we tell all the clubs in LaLiga what they can spend.

“In the case of Barcelona, they have to drop from spending on wages and transfers from £532m to £399m (€650m to €450m), so it’s a budget of minus £177m (€200m).

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“They have to reduce their investment in players and we have encouraged them to sell players because, for every amount they raise in sales, they can spend 40 per cent of that.”

Manchester United had an agreement in place last summer with Barcelona for De Jong for a fee believed to be around the £75 million mark, although the transfer fell through as De Jong wanted to stay at the Catalan club.

One reason for this was thought to be that Barcelona owed the Dutchman £17 million in deferred wages. It is said that Erik ten Hag is looking to take a second shot at signing his compatriot this coming summer.

Manchester United and Barcelona recently faced off in the Europa League, with Ten Hag’s Reds emerging victorious across two legs, winning 4-3 on aggregate.

Frenkie de Jong played fantastically across both legs and showed to United exactly why they wanted to sign him, and recent reports have claimed that De Jong is interested in the prospect of playing alongside Casemiro next season.

A video recently circulated online of Frenkie de Jong seemingly captured the midfielder taking in Old Trafford the night before the second leg of the Europa League clash.