Catalan paper Sport mentioned Chelsea among the teams interested in Frankie de Jong, whom Barcelona have put up for sale this summer for €100m according to the report.
It all sounds rather unlikely – Chelsea have bought 2 midfielders for €100m or more in the last 12 months, as well as a couple of others for less. De Jong doesn’t really fit into the model we’ve seen of the club signing young talents either.
To us, this screams of Barcelona leaking information to try and make their player seem in demand. The strategy here seems very clear – talk up interest in De Jong and try to get teams bidding this summer.
He’s in the top 3 best paid players at Barcelona right now, and his wages are only rising. They want rid of him, just as they did when they tried to shift him last summer.
So Chelsea fans worrying we might blow our striker budget on a midfielder – fear not, this one is just hopeful wishcasting from Sport.
