Report: Man City, PSG Lead Race for Ajax's Frankie De Jong

Barcelona are reportedly ready to give up on their pursuit for highly rated Ajax midfielder Frenkie de Jong.

Barcelona are reportedly ready to give up on their pursuit for highly rated Ajax midfielder Frenkie de Jong, with Manchester City and PSG now leading the race for the Dutchman.

It had previously been reported that Barça had made de Jong and Ajax teammate Matthijs de Ligt their primary targets for next summer's transfer window, but Goal now claims that City's financial might will be too much for Barcelona to match in the chase for de Jong.

The Premier League champions are willing to break their club record transfer fee in order to sign the young Dutchman, it's understood that talks between City's sporting director Txiki Bergiristain and his Ajax counterpart Marc Overmars have been productive, and a fee of £62m plus £18m of bonuses has been touted.

It's believed that City are looking to confirm a deal in the next few months, but are willing to let de Jong finish the season in the Netherlands before he joins the club officially next summer. Although Barcelona had been confident of landing the future superstar, they've now conceded that City's considerable financial might is too much for them to contend with.

City aren't the only club still in the running, however. According to Marca they'll have to fight it out with PSG for the Dutchman, and the French giants have reportedly offered Ajax €80m, a figure which City may not want to match.

Having resigned themselves to missing out on their primary target, Barca's attention has turned to PSG's Adrien Rabiot, who they believe will be available for a lower price, or even on a free next summer when his contract expires.