Word stemming from the Spanish media on Saturday points towards Manchester United’s pursuit of Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong finally inching towards a successful conclusion.

Recent weeks have of course seen reports linking Dutch international de Jong with an Old Trafford switch move up a notch.

With the former Ajax standout widely understood to have been identified as the no.1 target to reinforce United’s ranks in the middle of the park ahead of next season, talks were officially kicked into gear between the Premier League giants and Barcelona over a potential deal a fortnight ago.

Such negotiations came amid the widespread understanding that de Jong had given his blessing to a move to Manchester, where he would of course link up with the man who oversaw the finest form of his career to date – Erik ten Hag.

And yet, to this point, little has been reported when it comes to steps forward in United’s pursuit.

As alluded to above, though, if the latest word stemming from Spain on Saturday is anything to go by, then, finally, some form of common ground appears to have been found between the two clubs.

As per a report from Diario Sport, de Jong is now ‘very close’ to an Old Trafford switch.

This comes after sources close to the negotiation confirmed that ‘conversations have advanced in a very positive way in the last hours’, on the back of a fresh meeting between the respective transfer teams at Barcelona and Man United.

A fee in the region of €80 million is understood to be close to being agreed upon, with optimism growing in Manchester that a definitive deal will be struck before the month is out.

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