De Jong has been Ten Hag’s top target all summer and Manchester United have had an €85m agreement in place with Barcelona for his signature for several weeks.
However, De Jong has continued to insist on staying at Barcelona and has refused to leave the club thus far.
Ten Hag has been in constant contact with the midfielder but Manchester United are now losing confidence over getting a deal done.
And it has been claimed that there is now private acceptance at Old Trafford that they are unlikely to sign De Jong if Chelsea push to sign him.
Chelsea’s interest in the midfielder has complicated things for Manchester United, who are desperate to sign De Jong.
The Blues are interested but they are yet to make an offer and want to be sure about De Jong wanting the move.
He wants to stay at Barcelona but if he is forced to leave the midfielder would prefer to join Chelsea.
Manchester United are now looking at midfield alternatives, with Adrien Rabiot and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic on their radar at the moment.
