Chelsea told to increase Frenkie De Jong transfer offer to £50m by Barcelona to land midfield target this month

CHELSEA will reportedly need to pay £50million to secure Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong this month.

Earlier this week it was claimed that the Blues had submitted a £33m offer to the Catalan giants for the creative Dutchman.

But the bid is expected to be rejected as Barcelona want a higher fee if they are to let the 24-year-old depart in the January window.

And, according to , £50m is the asking price Chelsea will have to meet to secure his services.

But Thomas Tuchel's side are not the only European giant interested in bringing De Jong to their club.

Bayern Munich are also thought to be interested in the midfielder - who has been capped 38 times by Holland.

Manchester United have also been linked with a move for the him as a replacement for Paul Pogba.

And Pep Guardiola could entice De Jong to the Etihad, with Manchester City one of the few clubs who would be able to comfortably afford the transfer fee.

The former Ajax man joined Barcelona in the summer of 2019 after agreeing a fee of £65m in the January window.

He has featured 110 times for the LaLiga side, scoring 10 goals in the process.

But Barca are keen to raise funds by selling players as they remain in a serious financial crisis.

Samuel Umtiti was recently forced to sign a reduced deal in order for the club to register new signing Ferran Torres without breaking LaLiga's financial fair play regulations.

And they also have their eye on Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland at the end of the season.

Barca president Joan Laporta claims they now have the funds available to land the biggest names in the game once more.

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And reports state an eye-watering contract offer of £480,000-a-week is being lined up to tempt Haaland to the Nou Camp.

The Norway international has a cut-price £64m release clause in his Dortmund deal.

Barcelona currently sit sixth in the LaLiga table after just eight wins from 20 league games so far this season.

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