Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is unlikely to have cooled his interest in Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong, according to Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth.

The Red Devils agreed an €85m (£71.5m) fee for the Dutchman in the summer, but a deal stalled after the player refused to leave Barca. United went on spend a similar figure on Real Madrid’s Casemiro instead but Sheth claims that the decision to sign the Brazilian doesn’t mean de Jong is no longer a target:

“I still think Erik ten Hag loves the player. He absolutely loves the player and you wouldn’t spend that much time trying to bring in someone if you didn’t really, really want him at the football club. I don’t think Casemiro was a replacement with regard to position. I just think that the finances that would have been used for de Jong were used elsewhere in the end.”

De Jong was also the subject of interest from Chelsea over the summer, although United were much further down the line in terms of securing the signature of the Netherlands international.

If the Manchester club do revive a move in the future, though, they would still have to find a way of persuading the 25-year-old into making the switch to Old Trafford.

On top of that, as Sheth points out, the finances might not be there anymore either, after United spent approximately £150m on Casemiro and Antony. We shall have to wait and see how this transfer saga plays out.