Frenkie De Jong Wants To Leave FC Barcelona

Frenkie de Jong has shifted his stance and wants to leave FC Barcelona.

The Dutch international, who joined from Ajax in 2019 on a $80m deal after becoming the Champions League’s best midfielder of the season, has continually declared in public that he wishes to stay put.

“I feel comfortable, I want to continue and improve,” he said recently, while coach Xavi Hernandez has remarked that his charge is “playing at a very good level and has to continue here”.

“He can be one of the best midfielders in the world for years to come,” Xavi predicted.

“If it were up to me, he would continue here for many more years. He is very important and can mark an era here. He has to score, assist and he has to be the protagonist,” the club’s second all-time appearances leader went on before Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Rayo Vallecano.

Furthermore, amid reported interest from Manchester United, who will be managed by De Jong’s former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag next season, their compatriot Jordi Cruyff insisted that: “We will not sell Frenkie de Jong, he’s a player valued highly within the club,” following the third consecutive home defeat for the first time in history.

Yet all is not well with the 24-year-old, whose frustrations were communicated by the manner in which he stormed down the tunnel without greeting Xavi after being hooked in the 60th minute for a limp 3/10 display according to SPORT, who have also criticized him for being a ‘contextual’ player who only performs when the rest of the team does.

According to MAR
AR
CA on Tuesday, in their piece entitled “Divorce in sight”, De Jong has had a change of heart and is now considering leaving if the right offer comes in for him which Barca will also be interested in listening to.

Though Xavi constantly supports him in public, his decisions do not back his words up, MARCA note.

In the last 27 games under Xavi’s commands, De Jong has only completed seven which the Madrid-based paper say is “very few for a footballer who should be the undisputed starter and play practically everything”.

In those 27 matches, De Jong has been substituted 14 times which perhaps prompted his visibly angry display at the weekend.

At least at Manchester United, with Paul Pogba about to leave on a free transfer, he would be the main focus of midfield attention as he was under Ten Hag in Amsterdam.