It has been over 5 years since former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu boarded a flight to the Netherlands to shut the signing of Ajax Amsterdam midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
De Jong, now 26, was one in every of Europe’s most in-demand midfielders. He had fielded telephone calls from Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel and Manchester Metropolis’s Pep Guardiola, leaving Barça afraid they’d miss out on the prodigious Dutch worldwide. Ultimately, Bartomeu’s journey helped finalise a switch value an preliminary €75 million that was formally introduced on Jan. 23, 2019, forward of a full transfer that summer season.
There have been over 200 appearances, one LaLiga title, 4 managers, one interim coach and plenty of ups and downs since. At occasions, De Jong has regarded just like the generational midfielder Barça have been so determined to signal. In different moments, whereas his high quality has by no means been doubtful, there have been arguments about his finest position and whether or not he fits the group’s type.
It is truthful to say the chaos that has engulfed Barça on and off the pitch hasn’t created a affluent surroundings. The turmoil even led to the membership contemplating a proposal from Manchester United for him in the summertime of 2022 as a repair to its monetary issues, although he wished to remain. Pressure adopted, with De Jong upset at his contract being leaked within the media and Barça — now beneath a unique membership president, with Joan Laporta taking the reins for a second time — even suggesting they might take authorized motion over the contract renewal he signed when Bartomeu was nonetheless president in 2020.
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A truce adopted, De Jong gained his place again within the facet after that tough summer season of 2022, and he’s now one of many group’s 4 captains. Nonetheless, with final season’s title defence in tatters, coach Xavi Hernández stepping down on the finish of the marketing campaign and Barça nonetheless struggling financially, the Spanish media is stuffed with reviews nudging De Jong in the direction of a possible exit — and he’s removed from joyful about it.
Forward of Wednesday’s Champions League round-of-16 first leg match with Napoli, the previous Ajax man held nothing again in an explosive information convention. He mentioned he was offended and irritated by the lies about his future, his earnings and his contract scenario, asking the native media current if they aren’t ashamed of their pretend tales. “This has to cease,” he pleaded.
It has made De Jong — who nonetheless insists he’s joyful at “the membership of my goals” regardless of the noise — his future and his place at Barça entrance and centre of the dialog as soon as once more.
De Jong chooses Barcelona over PSG, and Valverde’s imaginative and prescient for the midfield
As a fresh-faced 21-year-old, De Jong was one of many stars of the Ajax group that made the Champions League semifinal in 2019, dropping to Tottenham. His coolness and capability to hold the ball from defence into assault, alongside along with his potential to select a go, meant Europe’s high golf equipment have been queuing as much as signal him. Ultimately, it got here right down to PSG and Barça.
“Via his agent, Frenkie had reached an settlement with PSG,” Bartomeu tells ESPN. “[Barça’s sporting directors at the time] Pep Segura, Eric Abidal and Ramón Planes informed me he was going to Paris, that he was already searching for a home and there was not a lot we might do.
“PSG performed their playing cards nicely. They’d been good with Frenkie, however Barça may very well be very persuasive. Regardless of [coach] Ernesto Valverde not phoning him, when different coaches did, we modified issues by going direct to the brokers. I seen they’d been considerably offended with Barça, however after a couple of days of speaking, issues modified.”
De Jong’s father, John, himself a former semi-professional footballer, is a giant fan of the Johan Cruyff college of soccer that is been perfected by Barça and Ajax. Bartomeu leaned on that fandom, and in addition used Neymar‘s world-record €222 million switch to PSG to his benefit, implying that there was real remorse at his exit.
“Frenkie’s father was additionally within the talks,” the previous Barça chief continues. “He knew greater than anybody the position that Barça would have for Frenkie and we have been capable of clarify that the philosophy goes past any coach. Frenkie’s dad is a Cruyffista and each mother and father understood their son could be higher off in Barcelona than wherever else.
“One of many issues I all the time mentioned to Frenkie was to have a look at what occurred to Neymar in Paris at the moment. I informed him that each Neymar and his father have been asking me to come back again to Barcelona.”
Ultimately, it felt like an apparent match: One of the crucial proficient children within the recreation treading the Amsterdam to Barcelona path that has been so symbolic in soccer historical past since Cruyff first made it as a participant in 1973. But issues didn’t immediately fall into place.
Studies within the Netherlands claimed Barça coach Valverde (2017-2020) had not been offered on the signing. De Jong had performed largely in a “double pivot” midfield at Ajax, and Valverde most well-liked a lone pivot in Sergio Busquets, with twin No. 8s forward of him. Sources informed ESPN nearly all of the Barça hierarchy seen De Jong as a participant for the current and the longer term, somebody able to enjoying a wide range of midfield roles, shaping the group post-Xavi and Andres Iniesta — who have been two of one of the best ever to play the place — and probably being Busquets’ long-term inheritor.
One factor everybody tells you about De Jong is that he is extremely self-critical. That was obvious in his first preseason. He complained about Barça’s efficiency in a pleasant defeat to Chelsea, and after being named participant of the match within the Joan Gamper Trophy win over Arsenal, he mentioned his show didn’t deserve the award. “We’ve got to maneuver the ball faster and press higher once we lose it,” he analysed.
These excessive requirements have been seen on the pitch in De Jong’s first few months on the membership. There was an abundance of youthful vitality, however Barça’s manner of enjoying beneath Valverde was being questioned; he was beneath scrutiny for making the group extra strong than thrilling regardless of successful back-to-back league titles. He generally reverted to a midfield 4, with De Jong that includes alongside Busquets, Arturo Vidal and Ivan Rakitic.
By January, Valverde was dismissed, ending a run of stability that Barça had loved for a decade. It was not the dream begin for De Jong, and it set the tone for 4 years of upheaval.
The pandemic and enjoying in deep midfield for Setién
Whereas De Jong remained a daily beneath Valverde’s alternative, Quique Setién (2020), issues solely bought worse for the membership. His first season in Barcelona, disrupted by the COVID pandemic, ended trophy-less and with that notorious 8-2 defeat Bayern Munich within the Champions League quarterfinal. “At the moment confirmed we now have numerous issues within the group,” De Jong mentioned afterward. “We’ve got to vary many issues.”
As the controversy about methods to get one of the best from De Jong continued, Setién, who was sacked following that Bayern recreation after simply eight months in cost, goes barely in opposition to the grain. He feels De Jong performs higher alone if he is the deepest midfielder, in distinction to many who really feel he wants somebody alongside him. The latter camp consists of Xavi, who all the time used Busquets earlier than his transfer to Inter Miami CF. Extra proof got here when Barcelona signed Oriol Romeu to enrich De Jong final summer season, whereas Xavi additionally continued to hunt a top-level defensive midfielder till saying his personal exit this summer season.
“Teaching Frenkie was a rare expertise,” Setién tells ESPN. “I used to be struck by his willingness to enhance ideas. We analysed his place as an inside midfielder [No. 8] rather a lot in the course of the time we have been collectively. His understanding of the sport, the pausa, when to cease, speed up, and so on. … He was all the time very receptive, he all the time requested for extra.
“He’s very versatile, he can play in numerous positions with a excessive efficiency. Because the deepest midfielder, he’s very efficient, maybe higher alone than in a double pivot. He covers numerous floor. A scarcity of verticality is compensated for by a rare potential to hold the ball, which permits him to interrupt strains simply.
“Undoubtedly, he performs higher when he’s dealing with the sport.”
One other former coach informed ESPN he believes De Jong is each underrated and misunderstood. The issue, he mentioned, is that individuals in Spain anticipate him to be producing assists and targets akin to “somebody like Manchester Metropolis’s Kevin De Bruyne,” additionally stating that the native media usually demand he do extra to run video games. Whereas that may be a slight exaggeration, Setién agrees De Jong is a a lot completely different participant.
“He can play nicely in any place, however it’s apparent that he’s not a differential No. 10 stuffed with expertise to unravel issues in tight areas with passes or targets,” he provides. “He is an efficient midfielder who can get ahead, however he additionally defends terribly nicely, covers numerous floor and doesn’t lose the ball. He’s full in every little thing, humble and trustworthy.”
Koeman finds an answer
Ronald Koeman (2020-21), a legend at Barça as a participant, was subsequent within the door, changing into De Jong’s third coach at Camp Nou in a 12 months. Extra attention-grabbing when it comes to the administration of De Jong, although, was the choice to herald Alfred Schreuder as his No. 2.
Schreuder had labored with De Jong at Ajax when he was Erik ten Hag’s assistant, and sources say De Jong had been keen on him as a coach.
“Essentially the most spectacular factor was that he was a participant who might play as a centre-back, a No. 6 or a No. 8 and in each place he was excellent,” Schreuder tells ESPN of his first impression of De Jong at Ajax. “He was defensively robust one-on-one, excellent with the ball and he might beat gamers as a midfielder — and it isn’t really easy as a midfielder to beat gamers and in addition be capable of defend one-on-one so nicely. For me, his high quality was distinctive within the a part of dominating the ball and dominating the opposition in one-on-one conditions.
“After I got here to Barcelona, he had been there for a 12 months. For me, in his persona and his life-style, he was now dwelling along with his girlfriend, there was improvement. He grew up, he was stronger in every little thing, as a result of it is a greater league. Typically, he had developed as an individual and as a participant.”
Underneath Koeman, De Jong confirmed a marked enchancment within the last third, particularly in the course of the early months of 2021 when he scored 5 targets in 11 video games (all competitions) and one other within the Copa del Rey last win over Athletic Membership — his first trophy in Blaugrana — as he gave the impression to be discovering a house beneath his compatriot. That run of kind was not sustained partially as a result of he paid for his versatility, with the group’s harm issues forcing him elsewhere.
“In that interval, Koeman put him as a right-sided No. 8 and he was excellent as a result of he was scoring targets,” Schreuder remembers. “Koeman wished him to penetrate extra, to get within the field and have extra alternatives to attain. However, additionally at the moment, generally he performed as a centre-back — for instance a recreation in Paris — and in addition as a No. 6 or No. 8 subsequent to Busquets.
“He is an all-round midfielder. For me, his finest place is No.6/8, however extra like a No. 8 who can drop out as a No. 6 and pace up the sport … or perhaps a double No. 6 and in a free position with the ball. He dominates the areas the place he’s enjoying and is tactically an excellent participant.”
Any attainable sense of stability quickly disappeared. Barça threw away the prospect to win LaLiga after working their manner again into the title race, and Koeman was sacked in October of that 12 months. Xavi, after Sergi Barjuán’s transient spell as interim coach, changed him to change into De Jong’s fourth completely different supervisor in three years.
Xavi, a busy midfield and the Premier League switch that wasn’t
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De Jong blasts ‘smoke & lies’ over contract and Barcelona future
Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong slams the media for hypothesis about his future on the membership.
Xavi (2021-2024) has all the time praised De Jong given the chance, however on the finish of 2021-22, there was a run of video games the place his actions spoke louder than phrases. The emergence of Pedri and Gavi, and the notion that they have been a greater collective match for Barça’s midfield, led to a run of 11 LaLiga video games by which De Jong accomplished 90 minutes solely as soon as. He was an unused substitute as soon as, got here on in one other fixture for 23 minutes and was taken off early within the remaining eight matches.
There have been moments when you would sense his frustration as he trudged off the pitch, and that pressure arrange the drama round his future the next summer season.
With Man United (now managed by De Jong’s former Ajax boss, Erik Ten Hag) and Chelsea (to a lesser extent) each , Barça sensed a chance. President Laporta had inherited the membership with enormous money issues and transferring De Jong would have offered a repair, along with the monetary levers Barça activated that 12 months, for 2 causes: firstly, as a result of he would have commanded a charge of as much as €100m and, secondly, as a result of it could have eradicated his wage from the wage invoice.
De Jong is among the membership’s largest earners after lowering his wage in the course of the pandemic — an settlement signed with the earlier board in 2020 — on the premise he could be progressively re-compensated within the latter years of his contract, which runs till 2026.
Xavi by no means mentioned he wished De Jong to depart for soccer causes, however due to the doubts about his actual position and the membership’s must strengthen elsewhere, he by no means fully shut the door on the concept. Issues turned ugly as De Jong — who loves his life in Barcelona, the place he lives along with his fiancée, Mikky Kiemeney, and their son, Miles, who was born on the finish of 2023 — refused to maneuver regardless of Barça agreeing the tough define of a charge with United.
Barça then leaked the main points of his 2020 renewal. The membership then even threatened authorized motion, saying the contract was not authorized, which led to pressure between De Jong’s camp and the membership. Sources near De Jong say they have been by no means anxious in regards to the legality of the settlement, and nothing ever got here of the menace. For his half, De Jong assigns accountability for these tough months to the membership’s hierarchy.
“In the future, a paper printed my contract particulars,” he mentioned. “I did not leak it, and just one different occasion knew [the details], so it needed to be the membership who did this. Then, out of the blue, there was a letter by which the query was requested whether or not my contract was nonetheless legitimate as a result of the earlier president made the contract. I discovered it annoying that the membership did this.”
De Jong spent the preseason tour in 2022 primarily enjoying as a centre-back, as he had accomplished at occasions earlier in his profession, as the controversy about his future and place continued. He was a substitute in three of Barcelona’s first 4 LaLiga video games, however as soon as the switch window closed and accidents set in, he reclaimed his place. A primary LaLiga title adopted to go along with the Spanish Supercopa additionally gained beneath Xavi.
Outcomes have spiralled this season, and so it seems like déjà vu: there’s a enormous cloud over Barça, the way in which they’re enjoying, simply how good they’re and what their finest midfield needs to be. Regardless of that, De Jong stays a key a part of the group. There was already a transparent upward trajectory in his numbers final season, however this 12 months they’ve taken one other leap ahead, stimulated by the area vacated by Busquets.
After Xavi determined Romeu, a €3.5m signing from Girona, was less than scratch, De Jong has been usually deployed as Barça’s deepest midfielder — the position many thought he was signed to fill. He usually has Ilkay Gündogan dropping in alongside him, however normally, Gundogan, Pedri, Gavi, Sergi Roberto and FermÃn López — relying on health and/or availability — are forward of him within the depth chart. Consequently, practically every little thing is now constructed by way of De Jong, who was voted one of many group’s 4 captains by his friends in the summertime and is raved about by teammates and opponents.
Defender João Cancelo says he’s the participant who has made the largest affect on him this season when it comes to high quality. “Watch him prepare, and also you realise there’s something completely different about him,” he mentioned.
Gavi says he’s the participant he “most admires,” whereas Pedri informed ESPN: “I get pleasure from soccer extra when Frenkie is subsequent to me. He not often loses the ball. When he is not there, I miss him rather a lot.” Opponents discover it too: Barbastro’s Arnau Fábrega mentioned after January’s Copa del Rey assembly that “De Jong performs one other recreation. He’s on one other degree.”
“Everybody likes to have Frenkie round them concerned within the build-up,” former Barça teammate Martin Braithwaite, now at Espanyol, tells ESPN. “Regardless of if he has a person on his again, you’ll be able to all the time give him the ball and he’ll discover a method to get out of tight areas and strain due to his persona.
“He’s laid-back, however so disciplined and decided to all the time get higher. In coaching, he’s a type of gamers that all the time performs with 100% depth in every little thing he does. That is what makes him particular. He’s all the time giving 100% each in matches and coaching.
“It is humorous as a result of he exhibits a lot character and persona on the pitch when he is enjoying, that you’d suppose he is the identical form of persona outdoors the pitch, however he is very humble and laid-back. He does not need any consideration truly, but naturally on the pitch he takes all the eye with the way in which he performs, so calm and with a lot confidence, making an attempt to regulate the sport.”
The De Jong dilemma continues
De Jong is averaging 108.31 touches per 90 minutes in LaLiga, probably the most by a Barça midfielder in a single marketing campaign since Xavi in 2013-14 (minimal 900 minutes performed). He ranks second in LaLiga in that statistic, behind solely Actual Madrid’s Toni Kroos. To place that in context, De Jong ranked forty third as lately because the 2021-22 season, and thirteenth out of Barça gamers who performed greater than 500 minutes within the league that season.
With these touches, he’s averaging 87.73 accomplished passes per 90 minutes within the league at a hit price of 93%. These numbers have by no means beforehand been above 75 or 92% and once more, solely Kroos completes extra.
But if you watch De Jong, you do not consider him as a pass-master within the type of his coach, Xavi; you consider what Setién says about the way in which he carries the ball. You consider that flip and run previous Luka Modric on the sting of his personal field for Ajax within the 2019 Champions League. You consider how Xavi purrs about his potential to “dividir” — principally break by way of strains.
“He’s maybe the one participant at Barça able to [those runs], whereas his degree of athleticism is unmatched by the opposite midfielders,” one former coach informed ESPN.
De Jong is averaging 73.12 ball carries in LaLiga per 90 minutes this season, rating second within the league. That’s up from 66.3 final season, and 25 extra carries per 90 than the 48.55 he averaged in 2021-22. It’s so usually an enormous weapon for Barça when the free man can’t be discovered.
Off the ball, his numbers are additionally higher than ever. He’s making 7.54 recoveries per 90 minutes, up from 5.58 in ’21-22. That ranks him twenty third in LaLiga for successful possession again — he has by no means beforehand breached the highest 30 and was as little as 136th throughout ’21-22.
De Jong, in some methods, has benefitted from Busquets’ exit, however he’s additionally now within the peak years of his profession. Massive names have gone since he joined (Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba, Busquets) and there have been moments of pressure, however he needs to be thought-about one of many figureheads of an rising technology together with Pedri, Gavi and Lamine Yamal.
Regardless of all that, the sensation stays contained in the membership that De Jong is extra expendable than different gamers resulting from his market worth and wage. His improved statistics have been misplaced in Barça’s dreadful begin to 2024. They’ve exited the Spanish Supercopa and the Copa del Rey, fallen 10 factors off the tempo in LaLiga and conceded 5 occasions in opposition to Villarreal, 4 in opposition to Actual Madrid and Athletic Membership, three in opposition to Granada and two in opposition to Actual Betis and Barbastro.
These issues in defence, transitions and urgent have seen Xavi as soon as once more usher in safety on the base of the midfield, with centre-back Andreas Christensen pushed right into a extra superior position. De Jong is to not blame for Barça’s issues — it is a collective challenge — however these points do reopen the controversy about his suitability.
It has additionally made him simple clickbait, with varied reviews surfacing over the previous two weeks that Barça will look to maneuver him once more this summer season if he refuses to signal a brand new deal that both defers a part of his wage or reduces it. That every one got here to the fore in Tuesday’s outstanding information convention on the eve of an enormous Champions League recreation.
Sources near the participant have all the time identified that, with over two years to run on his contract, he’s calm and has full management over his future, however it all turned an excessive amount of. De Jong slammed reviews he earns €40m yearly — “a good distance from it” — ripped into media “innovations” and implored the press to cease mendacity.
But regardless of any issues he could have with the membership’s hierarchy or the therapy he has obtained from the media, he stays eager to remain put. “I take into account the membership to be my teammates, the dressing room, the individuals I work with, the workers,” he mentioned. “That is all nice, 10/10. I’m having fun with myself rather a lot. I hope to remain right here for a few years.”
Nonetheless, Xavi’s responses to questions on De Jong and Gavi probably leaving this summer season have been telling earlier than the Feb. 17 recreation at Celta Vigo. The outgoing Barça boss mentioned Gavi “has to remain and is the way forward for the membership.” On De Jong, he labeled him as an “vital participant” however mentioned something past this season “relies on him and the membership.” He repeated that touch upon Tuesday after supporting De Jong’s complaints in regards to the media.
Requested about De Jong’s kind final week, Xavi had mentioned: “A scarcity of consistency has marked our season. That goes for gamers and coaches and he’s no exception.” That is the place it will get complicated.
No sources on the membership will rule out the departure of De Jong this summer season. Nonetheless, there may be additionally an consciousness that the brand new coach (whoever it’s) will seemingly need De Jong as a part of the group. He nonetheless has an enormous fame in European soccer and, as sporting director Deco seeks to raised equip the group for the fashionable recreation, De Jong is seen as one of many gamers who has the athleticism and the physicality to thrive. Sources add that the balancing act between the membership’s monetary wants and the group’s sporting wants is a tough one to handle. Some tough selections may be required.
In some ways, it is again to sq. one. Sources say, with Barça needing to lift cash this summer season, the brand new coach will hopefully even have a job in deciding which gamers are dispensable. Is De Jong extra vital than a brand new left winger or a holding midfielder? Would they slightly half with De Jong than Jules Koundé, Ronald Araújo, Andreas Christensen or Raphinha? These are questions that also have to be answered.
The one factor that’s sure right here is that with every passing season, De Jong has much less time left at Barça than he did when Bartomeu boarded that aircraft 5 years in the past. His legacy on the membership remains to be to be outlined.