Barcelona have told Frenkie de Jong that they want to annul his existing contract and return to the terms he had before.
They are claiming that the terms given to him by the club's previous board, headed by Josep Maria Bartomeu, had certain irregularities and now provide grounds for legal action against those involved.
According to The Athletic's sources, Barcelona wrote to De Jong on July 15 claiming to have found evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the parties who signed his renewal in October 2020.
That two-year extension until 2026 - which was announced alongside those of Gerard Pique, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Clement Lenglet - reduced his salary for the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, leaving 18 million euros to be spread over the following four seasons.
The letter sent to De Jong last month was to inform the Dutchman that Barcelona believe they are in a position to initiate criminal proceedings to establish what happened in relation to the signing of his contract and determine where responsibility for the alleged irregularity lies.
In other words, the club want to rescind his current conditions and return to those agreed in the year of his signing, back in 2019.
Controversy with FIFPRO attentive
Sources at the Catalan club suggested to The Athletic that there have already been talks between Barcelona and De Jong's entourage, in which the current board stressed that the previous board may have carried out some irregularities and also warned that De Jong and his representatives may be involved.
This could prove Evgeniy Levchenko, president of the Dutch players' union, right, who slipped the idea that De Jong could be a victim of extortion, something Joan Laporta denies.
The global players' union FIFPRO is known to be monitoring the situation closely with Barcelona's attempts to try to get the player to accept a much reduced sum of the 18 million euros he agreed to defer during the pandemic.
Leogoatdribbles
124
I said Barcelona current management does not care about any player nor legend but only them. Most people thought I was going against the team because of the way they let Messi go. But now see. Barcelona allegedly knew Frenkie de jong contract was criminal in nature yet they kept it all this while. They wanted and even agreed a price with Man United to sell him. When he refused to be sold and refused to accept pay cut, they threatens him of legal action for having a contract that is criminal in nature. They are forgetting that it’s the team that bids their contract to a player for him to sign if he accepts. If there is anything criminal, then Barcelona is the criminal . That is the same thing they did to Messi. When Messi wanted to leave, they said he should have given a one month notice first and threatened the same legal action against Messi. Messi having so much love for the club did not want to battle them with the court so he accepted and stayed for the rest of his contract. Now it’s de Jong turn. Fuuuuuuuuuukc you Barcelona. Fukkkk the management
3Cassian3Caesar3
92
Correction in the headline... Barcelona see the opportunity to cheat De Jong in his contract. 🤷♂️