Barcelona are by a huge margin at the top of the list of the main newsmakers of the current football off-season.
In the summer, the club's management has already managed to acquire one of the strongest forwards in the world, Robert Lewandowski, steal the talented winger Rafinha from competitors and take two top free agents - Andreas Christensen and Frank Kessier.
And in the near future, several star defenders may replenish the team, including Jules Kunde from Sevilla.
However, the desire to strengthen the squad as much as possible and come fully equipped to the title race with Real Madrid makes the Catalans do not act in the most beautiful way with the current players.
Some of them are openly forced to leave, using all available methods for this - from statements in the press to non-payment of salaries.
The reason for this behavior of Barcelona bosses is simple.
Recently, Spain has begun to closely monitor club spending and set individual salary caps for each club, which is calculated based on income.
In this regard, they can no longer acquire an unlimited number of players without thinking about the consequences.
To buy someone, you need to make room for him in the payroll, that is, it is profitable to sell one of the roster players.
Thus, the Catalans found themselves in a difficult situation - agreements have already been signed with star newcomers, but they still do not have the opportunity to declare them all.
Therefore, the Blaugrana are hastily trying to organize transfers “to the exit” of several players at once, and the club is ready to part with even the most talented and promising ones.
In particular, Frenkie de Jong, who joined the roster in the summer of 2019.
The former Ajax midfielder was seen as a successor to Sergio Busquets, and the future team coach Xavi called him "the bearer of Barcelona's DNA."
It is all the more surprising that it was he who became the first sign.
Not counting the age-old Dani Alves and a couple of young performers who left the capital of Catalonia as free agents, as well as went on loan to Clement Lenglet and Francisco Trinkau, only Philippe Coutinho was sold.
It cannot be said that in three seasons de Jong managed to fully realize himself and become one of the leaders of the team.
But this was not easy to do initially.
During this time, four coaches have changed at Barça, Lionel Messi left, and Frankie himself was tried in five different positions - on both flanks and in the center of midfield, in the support zone and even in defense.
In all roles, the Dutchman looked at the level, but the lack of a clear role did not allow him to be considered an integral part of the team.
And when Manchester United became seriously interested in de Jong, Barcelona did not even try to keep him.
Moreover, in every possible way contributed to his departure.
After all, this transfer was beneficial for both teams.
The Spaniards unloaded the payroll and received not only a solid compensation of € 85 million, but also the opportunity to declare newcomers, the English - an excellent performer, whose strengths are well known to the newly minted coach Erik ten Hag.
It was under his leadership that Frankie grew into a star and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in his career.
Then Ajax sensationally left Real and Juventus out of the playoffs, and lost only to Tottenham in a dramatic confrontation.
However, this option did not suit the Dutchman himself.
Not only did he want to stay at Barcelona, but he was not very interested in moving to Manchester United either.
According to The Athletic, de Jong considers this a step back, because the Mancunians failed to break into the Champions League at the end of the previous season.
The same arguments are allegedly guided by Cristiano Ronaldo, whose possible departure from Old Trafford has been discussed over the past weeks.
It would seem that an end could be put on this issue, but Barcelona decided to get rid of the talented midfielder at all costs.
And she began to take all possible steps for this.
Xavi himself tried to convince de Jong to leave.
According to Diario Sport, the mentor was supposed to have a conversation with the midfielder and explain that his sale would benefit everyone.
Apparently, this plan also did not work, but the specialist did not stop.
First, he publicly announced his intention to use Frankie in a non-native position for him as a central defender, and then asked him to take a pay cut of almost two times.
According to the portal SalarySport, under the current contract, the Dutchman earns € 10.15 million a year.
In addition to de Jong, his compatriot Memphis Depay found himself in a similar position.
He was acquired after a number of successful seasons at Lyon and was considered a replacement for Messi, who left for Paris Saint-Germain, but he also could not gain a foothold in the start.
If under Ronald Koeman he regularly went to the base, then after the arrival of Xavi, the striker's playing time was noticeably reduced.
Although the reason for this was not so much the lack of trust on the part of the mentor, but the sharply increased level of competition.
In winter, the Blue Garnet invited Ferran Torres and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, rented Adama Traore, and even Ousmane Dembele began to justify the hopes associated with him.
And the Dutchman himself also received a couple of unpleasant injuries.
In 2022, he took part in only 13 La Liga matches, and only spent more than 30 minutes on the field five times.
As a result, 13 goals and two assists in all tournaments are satisfactory for a player of this level.
At the same time, with the arrival of Lewandowski and Rafinha, Depay's position will become even more complicated.
The Dutchman operates either on the flank of the attack, or in the position of a false nine, but in the future is not considered as the first option on any of them, as the mentor told him about.
According to Xavi, Memphis runs the risk of spending the entire championship on the bench if they do not dare to find a new team.
However, the main focus of the Blue Garnet is on the sale of de Jong, and there is an explanation for this.
Depay's contract with Barcelona expires next summer, so he won't be worth much.
As reported in the press, the club expects to “fuse” the midfielder for €20 million.
So far, everything is going to the fact that in the near future both players will leave Barcelona.
According to the publication AS, Xavi said that he had a conversation with some of the players, during which he clearly explained to them the current state of affairs.
According to the specialist, they already know that they will not be able to stay at Barca, so they must start looking for a new job.
That being said, there is a snag in de Jong's case.
According to The Independent, the Catalans owe €20 million to the midfielder, most of which is a salary, the issuance of which was delayed due to the pandemic.
In addition, Frankie intends to receive a €15 million loyalty bonus if he is sold.
In his opinion, he has the right to count on him, because he himself does not want to leave the team.
The situation with de Jong and Depay seems very unusual, because it is usually the players who force their departure from the team.
The same Ronaldo first forced Juventus to sell him to Manchester United, and now he is putting pressure on the Manchester United.
Robert Lewandowski recently asked to make a transfer to Barcelona, and earlier Ousmane Dembele, who missed training at Borussia Dortmund.
And Dimitri Payet at one time promised to tear his cruciate ligaments if West Ham did not let him go to Marseille.
In fact, what happens to de Jong is not uncommon.
In recent years, there have been enough cases when clubs lost faith in players and tried to force them to agree to leave.
Suffice it to recall how they “fused” Luka Jovic from Real Madrid, Alexis Sanchez from Manchester United, Raju Ningollan from Inter.
But usually the athletes themselves are much more willing to meet halfway and do not try to defend their position to the last.
After all, this is fraught with a lost season, since a rebel can easily be transferred to the reserve and deprive him of practice.
It is still difficult to say how the story with de Jong and Depay will end, but not only many fans, but also some officials are on their side.
Thus, the president of the players' union of the Netherlands, Yevgeny Levchenko, paid special attention to the situation around Frenkie.
According to him, the club “drives the midfielder into a corner with a baton” and forces him to leave.
The functionary demanded intervention from the FIFPro (International Federation of Professional Footballers Associations) and urged the athlete himself not to take a pay cut.