Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is furious at City’s decision to put a deal for Frenkie de Jong on hold, PSG have since moved into pole position.
According to a report from Mirror Football, the Premier League champions were all set to seal a £66.8m deal for De Jong last week but the Guardiola was left shocked when the club decided to shelf he deal.
City’s bizarre u-turn has seen French giants Paris Saint-Germain become the frontrunners for the Ajax wonderkid’s signing.
Guardiola believed that De Jong’s move to City was all done and dusted, especially after the Spaniard charmed the midfielder with a secret three-and-a-half-hour meeting with him in London last month.
Mirror Football also revealed that City officials were ready to fly to Amsterdam to complete a deal for De Jong before the club’s dramatic u-turn.
PSG officials then jumped on the chance to rush off to Holland to snatch the midfielder from the hands of City.
Guardiola thought his decision to meet with De Jong and outline his role in the team was enough to seal a deal for the youngster.
It’s understood that the 21-year-old was willing to put his dreams of playing for Barcelona aside just for the chance to shine under tactical genius Guardiola.
? "His vision of the game and quality of passes breaking the lines makes him very valuable. He's welcome at Paris! I put in a good word, because he'd help us a lot."
– Kylian Mbappé on Frenkie De Jong. ?? pic.twitter.com/oTBCfGqC1J
— Football Tweet (@Football__Tweet) December 4, 2018
De Jong was reportedly shocked when he heard that City pulled the plug on a potential deal on Wednesday.
De Jong had been tipped to be the perfect replacement for 33-year-old City defensive midfielder Fernandinho.
With Guardiola understood to be ‘angry and frustrated’, the City hierarchy will need to smooth over things with Guardiola or the Spaniard could take his talents elsewhere.
Could this decision come back to haunt City in the future?
