Let's add extortion into the mix
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The letter sent to De Jong last month is thought to inform the Dutchman that Barcelona think they are in a position to initiate criminal proceedings to establish what happened in relation to the signing of his contract and ascertain where responsibility resides for the supposed wrongdoing.
It is believed to then express Barcelona’s wish to rescind the deal and proceed with De Jong’s career at the Camp Nou under the conditions agreed when he arrived from Ajax in January 2019.
The Athletic understands the previous board are confident in the legality of the contract De Jong signed in 2020 and insist the deal was agreed after approval from legal parties and La Liga. In an interview with the Barcelona newspaper Mundo Deportivo last year, former president Bartomeu insisted the previous board’s management of the club was “serious and responsible”.
Sources around the Catalan club suggest there has been further dialogue between Barcelona and De Jong’s camp, in which the present board have identified their predecessors for the alleged criminality and warned that De Jong and his representatives may also be implicated.
That could be perceived to reinforce comments by Evgeniy Levchenko — chairman of the Dutch players’ union — that De Jong might be a victim of extortion, a notion current Barcelona president Joan Laporta denies. Global players’ union FIFPRO is known to be closely monitoring the situation and Barcelona’s attempts to try to make the player accept a vastly reduced sum from the €18m he agreed to defer during the pandemic.
Barcelona are engaged in similar conversations with Pique and Ter Stegen (Lenglet is on loan at Tottenham Hotspur) but it is unknown if they have also received communication of a legal nature.
