Asked about Manchester United's pursuit of Frenkie de Jong during the summer of 2022, their head coach Erik Ten Hag said: "Yes, it would have been De Jong and Casemiro playing and complementing each other."
"But in the last decade and in this period, we couldn't always get the players we wanted. You have to accept that," the Dutch manager added.
Barcelona were open to selling De Jong that summer with Man United offering around €100m for the midfielder.
However, De Jong firmly resisted all attempts by the club to ship him off and refused to come near the negotiation table.
Barca had no choice but to continue with their highly-paid midfielder — De Jong went on to perform impressively last season helping Barca win La Liga and the Super Cup of Spain.
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