Chelsea increasingly confident of landing £200K-a-week Barcelona star after initial talks

Chelsea have jumped ahead of Manchester United in the quest to sign highly-rated Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong.

Manchester United have been in the market to sign the midfielder all summer but they have failed to get the deal done with complications at every turn so far.

New Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag enjoyed a successful period with the midfielder when they both worked together at Ajax, and is looking to link up with the Dutchman again in Manchester.

But Chelsea have jumped ahead in the queue for de Jong in the last couple of days, and are willing to bring him to London.

One of the things that is going in the favour of the Blues is that Barcelona are trying to sign both César Azpilicueta and left-back Marcos Alonso, which will have on a knock on effect on the de Jong deal.

Chelsea have indicated that they are willing to listen to the deal for players if they are allowed to get the Frenkie de Jong move across the line.

Earlier in the summer, Barcelona and Manchester United had agreed a £67million deal for the Dutch midfielder but the player just did not agree to personal terms and nothing has happened since.

Spanish outlet Sport claims that the reason why the midfielder is not keen on moving to Manchester United is that they did not make Champions League football, which gives the advantage to Chelsea.

Also Chelsea is a club that has been going from strength-to-strength since Thomas Tuchel took over, while Manchester United have become a pale shadow of their once great self.