Barça push De Jong to leave over wage deferral dispute

In the summer of 2022, Barcelona were deep in financial trouble. The club's board, led by president Joan Laporta, needed to cut its wage bill to register new signings under La Liga's spending limits, and Frenkie de Jong's high salary made him an obvious candidate to be sold.

The Dutch midfielder, who had joined from Ajax in 2019, made clear he wanted to stay. He refused to leave and said he would not accept a pay cut, noting that he had already agreed to defer part of his wages during the pandemic. Manchester United were widely reported as interested, but De Jong did not want to move.

The standoff strained relations between player and club for a long time. The dispute centred on the money De Jong said he was owed from those earlier deferrals, which became a recurring point of friction with the board. Although he stayed, the episode left a lasting tension that shaped his standing at the club in the following years.