De Jong Fan Treatment In Gamper Trophy Could Decide Player’s FC Barcelona Future

Frenkie de Jong’s treatment by FC Barcelona fans in the Joan Gamper Trophy match against Club Universidad Nacional on Sunday could decide his future at the club.

Since before the end of a trophyless 2021/2022 season, De Jong has been the subject of one of European football’s biggest transfer sagas.

His name continually liked to Manchester United, who are now managed by his former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, the 25-year-old looked certain to be heading to Old Trafford as part of a €85mn deal until he refused to switch allegiances.

This is mainly due to the Red Devils’ lack of Champions League football, with some reports also overplaying his proximity to ten Hag from their days together when the Amsterdam outfit went on an unlikely run to the semi-finals of the competition and De Jong was voted its best midfielder that year.

The playmaker’s exploits in that 2018/2019 campaign were enough to earn him a €75mn move to the Camp Nou, but the fact that his three-year tenure has yielded just a single piece of silverware, the Copa del Rey, and Barca’s financial predicament mean that a player once deemed ‘untouchable’ and a cornerstone of its future is now on the market.

Chelsea have entered the race for De Jong this week, meaning that he can no longer use the UCL excuse with Thomas Tuchel’s men also capable of challenging for the PremierPINC
League title.

Yet despite Barca seeming to want him gone so that they can free up space on the wage bill and make an approach for David Silva, De Jong is still adamant on staying in Catalonia and being a part of Xavi Hernandez’s promising sporting project.

As suggested by AS on Sunday morning, then, the Joan Gamper trophy match could be what decides the player’s future after all.

If given a frosty reception by the home fans unimpressed by his protests, he could have a change of heart and cave in to Chelsea’s proppsal.

Should he be well-received, however, as has been the cast for the most part of his La Liga tenure, it could further convince him that his current stance is the right one.