Barca’s last-ditch attempt to land De Jong

La Liga update

Barcelona: Barcelona’s top brass has travelled to Amsterdam in a last-ditch attempt to convince Ajax starlet Frenkie de Jong to sign for the club.

Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu, general manager Pep Segura, director of football Eric Abidal and assistant to the technical secretary Ramon Planes are in the Dutch capital as the battle between the Catalan club and PSG to land one of the most promising players in Europe heats up.

The midfielder wants to announce his future club before the Round of 16 Champions League tie against Real Madrid on 13 February.

PSG are willing to give the youngster a bumper salary as well as offer Ajax almost 80 million euros (FJ$193.1m) in a package thought to be out of Barcelona’s reach. Earlier in the week, MARCA revealed that Barcelona feel betrayed by the player’s agent Ali Dursun for breaking a verbal agreement between the parties and swaying towards the Parisian club’s mega offer.

De Jong is a key component in Barcelona’s plans for the future, with other midfielders in the squad such as Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal in their 30s.

The club is also keen to avoid another public rejection from a top class player following Antoine Griezmann’s decision to stay with Atletico Madrid rather than move to the Camp Nou.

While PSG’s financial muscle is hard to compete with, Barcelona feel that, by sending their most influential figures to Amsterdam, their display of intent will prove to De Jong and his representative just how important they perceive the youngster to be to their project.

-MARCA Goals from Lucas Hernandez, Santiago Arias and Koke saw the visitors record an incredibly comfortable victory, with Simeone even having the chance to introduce academy graduates Victor Mollejo and Joaquin Munoz in the second half.

“From the very beginning we had a very consistent 90 minutes,” he explained in his post-match press conference.

“I’ve kept repeating myself ever since the Sevilla match, we’re competing well and are creating chances.

“Even against Girona we scored three. “Our performance today generates excitement and enthusiasm.”

Simeone had specific praise for his fullbacks after their goalscoring performances. “Lucas is a very important player for us and Arias is improving,” he stated.

“The depth on the right side is very important, but all of the players have been very good.

“Thomas and Rodrigo better understand their positions each day.”

Despite the vast investment into the squad in the summer, as well as the expectation that Los Rojiblancos will challenge for the Champions League with the final in their own stadium, Simeone believes it was always likely to be a difficult season.

“We have known since the beginning of the season that we would face difficulties,” he said.

“We hope to have certain players recovering soon and continue to compete with a full squad. “We have had to prepare differently to other teams.”

-MARCA