Gary Neville explains what he heard 'third hand' about Frenkie de Jong transfer

Manchester United transfer target Frenkie de Jong would prefer to stay at Barcelona or move to Chelsea this summer, according to Gary Neville.

De Jong is United's number one target in the summer transfer window, but the deal has been drawn out by a variety of issues. United have not given up on landing the midfielder, who played under Erik ten Hag at Ajax, and made a breakthrough on Monday.

Over the weekend it emerged that Chelsea could try to hijack United's move for De Jong. Unlike United, the Blues can offer the 25-year-old Champions League football and are looking for a marquee player to kick off the Todd Boehly era.

De Jong is not in a rush to leave Barca, however, partly due to the fact that the club owe him €17million (£14.25m) in back payments due to an agreement struck during the height of the Covid pandemic. With a month left until the Premier League transfer window closes, the picture is still murky and former United player Neville has bad news for the club's chances of closing the deal.

Commenting on reports of Chelsea's interest, he tweeted : "I was in Miami when Barca were there playing two weeks ago and I got told ( third hand ) De Jong preferred staying at Barca or Chelsea and London. Wasn't a concrete source but this follows that thought."

Last month United did manage to agree an initial fee of £56.2m with Barca for De Jong, with the total transfer increasing up to £72m once add-ons are accounted for. However, no final agreement is yet in place and Barca are dragging their feet, by insisting they do not need to sell, despite splashing major cash on Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde.

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Neville has frequently commented on the ongoing transfer saga between United and De Jong this summer. Last month he made headlines by suggesting De Jong should consider legal action against his employers for withholding money owed to him to stop him leaving.

He tweeted : "De Jong should consider legal action v Barcelona and all players should be behind him! A club spending fortunes on new players whilst not paying the ones they have under contract their full money is immoral and a breach. @FIFPRO should be all over bullying like this and stop it."

Although privately Barca are understood to be open to selling De Jong, publicly they remain steadfast in their 'not open for business' stance. "Frenkie de Jong is our player, we really like him," president Joan Laporta told ESPN recently. "We received some offers for Frenkie but we didn't accept as of now, as we want to talk with him and know exactly what he wants. We need to clarify some aspects of his situation."