It’s just that if he was 18 years old, then he could spend a couple of years on further progress even in a crisis club, but he is already 25 and every lost year is worth a lot. And even if you look at the behavior of Barcelona, which constantly demands lower salaries and the attitude towards Pique the legend of the club, it seems to me the simplest conclusion: to leave for a more stable and promising club.
Agree with what you said, Even though Barcelona is a good club in terms of name and story but De Jong should also consider other things. Barcelona are currently struggling quite a bit to make something good on their finances and the Pique case should be one that needs to be looked at as well especially since he's not that old at the moment and if he really wants to continue his career at an appropriate pay I think leaving is not something wrong.
Piqué is really old, but I was very outraged by the attitude of Barcelona towards him - he twice agreed to a pay cut simply because of loyalty to the club in order to receive an ultimatum in the end about a third reduction with comments that the club did not need him, plus his "behavior "(outside sports) bad. This is complete bullshit, given that Barcelona itself behaves like a clown.
What is clear is that Real Madrid do not want Cristiano at the moment and that he is looking for a way out because he is not happy in Manchester.
It seems that
Laporta and Mendes met to discuss his signing, but as you say, the main stumbling block would be financial.
I think it is highly unlikely that he will end up at Barcelona, but if he does, it would be a bombshell.
When I heard about this option for Ronaldo, I laughed out loud imagining the reaction of the fans of all the teams involved. In my opinion, this is a complete fantasy. But who knows