La Liga
Who Is The Barcelona Target Frenkie de Jong
Several newspapers in Spain have been linking the 21-year-old Ajax midfielder Frenkie de Jong to a move to the Spanish champions Barcelona this summer. According to the Spanish newspapers, after the failed transfer of Antoinne Griezmann, the Catalan club are looking to sign one or two midfielders to strengthen their midfield. According to several reports in Spain, Thiago Alcantara, Miralem Pjanic, Arthur Melo and Frenkie de Jong are the top four options that Barça are considering to sign this summer.
About The Player
The 21-year-old de Jong plays for the Dutch club Ajax. Ajax’s youth academy is known for producing world-class talents but De Jong does not come from the Ajax youth academy. De Jong is actually a youth exponent from the Dutch club Willem II. He made his Eredivisie debut for Willem II coming off the bench on 10 May 2015 in a 1-0 home win against ADO Den Haag. He then signed for Ajax in the summer of 2015. Since then, he has made 37 senior appearances for Ajax across all competitions. He also reached the UEFA Europa League final in 2017 in the process. De Jong’s featured throughout the 2016-17 season for Ajax’s B team. This saw him being awarded the Jupiler League’s Talent of the Season award.
De Jong primarily plays a central midfielder, performing various tasks for his team. Apart from that, he can also play as a defensive midfielder or as a center-back. His versatility might well be one of the main reasons why a club like Barcelona are looking to get him signed.
De Jong has played 37 games for the Ajax first team, scoring twice and assisting 9 goals in the process. He made his debut for the Netherlands U-21 team on March 24 2017. He has played 6 games for the Dutch U-21 team, scoring once. De Jong is yet to make an appearance for the Netherlands national team.
What The Player Thinks
In a recent interview with at5.nl, De Jong publicly expressed his desire to play for Barcelona. When asked about whether he wants to join Barcelona and play with Messi, he said, “Of course I’d love to play with Messi. But he’s almost 31, I need to hurry up, haha.” He also said that he is a Barcelona fan. In addition, he enjoys watching their matches regularly throughout the season. When asked about his future at Ajax, he said, “As a football player I can’t promise to Ajax fans that I will be their player next season. A club could knock at the door tomorrow and offer so much money that you get sold. But as things stands now, I will remain an Ajax player.”
Conclusion
It is very clear that the player wants to play for the Catalan giants, but Ajax’s sporting director Marc Overmars has said that Ajax do not want to sell him. Despite Overmars’ comments, when a club like Barcelona come knocking, not many can deny them. After looking at the reports in Spain and the words of the player himself, it seems that De Jong will in fact be a Barcelona player this summer.
