Bayern Munich Monitoring Barcelona's Frenkie de Jong
By Tom Gott
Bayern Munich have reached out to the agent of Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong to gauge the likelihood of a future move to the Allianz Arena.
The German side were interested in landing De Jong when he left Ajax in 2019, but the midfielder ultimately sealed a £65m move to Camp Nou and recently signed a new long-term contract at Barcelona to commit himself to the club until 2026.
Barcelona have long been adamant that De Jong is going to be a core part of the future, and according to Mundo Deportivo, Bayern are well aware of that, but they are also conscious of the current financial difficulties in which Barcelona find themselves.
The Spanish side have seen their finances ravaged by the COVID-19 outbreak, with players and staff agreeing to take additional wage deferrals to give the club the chance to stop haemorrhaging money in the short term.
With fans yet to return and Barcelona in dire need of investment in the squad, Bayern have reached out to De Jong's agent to see whether the Spaniards would be interested in raising money by selling De Jong.
Barcelona are well aware of Bayern's contact with agent Ali Dursan, and although it's not clear how they have responded, it seems likely that Barcelona would not be interested in doing business.
Bayern and Barcelona have regularly butted heads in the transfer market this year. The Germans tried to sign Pedri during the summer and also lost out to Barcelona in the race for right-back Sergino Dest from Ajax, and it looks like we might be in for round three.
Barcelona have always maintained that De Jong is not transferable, with his new contract serving as evidence of that, but the final decision will be left to whomever takes over from Josep Maria Bartomeu as club president in January.
Letting De Jong go would not be a popular decision among fans, but the chance to raise close to £70m to improve other areas of the squad during a time of crisis may be too good to turn down.
However, it's hard to see Barcelona cashing in on De Jong. Not only would they be losing one of their top young players, but with the rest of the midfield getting on in age, they'd have to spend a large part of that fee to replace De Jong before they could even consider what to do with the rest of the money.