Erik eyes Barca’s De Jong
Catalan giants try to offload stars in a desperate bid to sign Robert Lewandowski.
Nou Camp boss Xavi accepts he will be forced to reluctantly part with one of his prize assets to land the veteran Bayern Munich striker this summer.
Outgoing boss Ralf Rangnick has accepted responsibility for United’s failure this year.
“I’m more than selfcritical. I should have done better,” he said. “I expected that me and my coaching staff could have developed this team in a more sustainable kind of way.
“We couldn’t and it’s not only the players who should be blamed, it should be ourselves. We all could and should have done better, but there are obvious reasons why it didn’t happen.”
Ten Hag is anxious to conclude his planning talks over the direction of the club, so he can concentrate on analysing current United players he believes can fit into his system.
United are aiming to wipe a whopping £80m off their annual wage bill this summer as the Old Trafford hierarchy plan to sell or release a mass of expensive, unwanted first-team talent.
France midfielder Paul Pogba – on £275,000 a week – and Uruguay hitman Edinson Cavani (£250,000) are the highest-paid stars definitely departing.
They are both free transfers as their current deals expire at the end of the campaign. Other big earners set to leave include Juan Mata (£175,000), Nemanja Matic (£140,000) and Jesse Lingard (£110,000).
The rest of the ruthless cost-cutting will be completed through the sale of other names still under contract but surplus to Ten Hag’s requirements.
That group consists of Anthony Martial (£250,000), Eric Bailly (£110,000), Aaron Wan-bissaka (£90,000),
Dean Henderson (£110,000), and Phil Jones (£80,000).
That will clear the decks in terms of unwanted personnel and immediately create a cash boost for incoming transfers as it recoups £1.5m in wages every seven days.