BARCELONA, SPAIN – NOVEMBER 09: Frenkie De Jong of FC Barcelona competes for the ball with Pione … [+]
Since joining in the summer from Ajax for a fee of $83mn, Frenkie de Jong has been a revelation at FC Barcelona.
Commended for facing the media during difficult moments, attempting to integrate in his new city and going over his performances with backroom staff anaylsts, he has also impressed his teammates with athleticism and fitness that has been described as being of an Olympic long distance runner’s standards.
Arthur’s own physical resistance is much improved, yet it is probably due to the latter claim and the advancing years of La Masia veteran Sergio Busquets that the 22-year-old has started in all but one of Barça’s 15 clashes in all competitions this season and completed 90 minutes in 11 of those.
Simultaneously however, his performances have been consistently high quality, an additional factor in permanently dislodging Ivan Rakitic – a previous mainstay under Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde – and forcing the Croat World Cup finalist to seek a January exit from the Camp Nou.
Though the headlines were rightfully grabbed by Lionel Messi and his dead ball hat trick in the 4-1 win over Celta Vigo, De Jong put in arguably his greatest, understated display in the acquisition of three points that sent his side back to the top of La Liga on Saturday night.
Joined by Arthur and this time Sergi Roberto in midfield, De Jong was sometimes criticised at the start of 2019/2020 when pushed out to the right wing and his productivity dropped.
On this occasion however, he comfortably occupied this area of the pitch when required. With Roberto, he swapped from the pivot role and back again to a right ‘interior’ midfielder that exchanged neat passes with Nelson Semedo prior to the full-back being brought off around the 20 minute mark with a calf injury.
Semedo was replaced by Busquets, who dropped deep to form Barça’s usual centre-of-the-park triangle that sees he and Arthur placed in front of the Spaniard and able to spray passes around to the front line.
Overall, De Jong finished with 61 of them at an accuracy of 95% while completing two dribbles. But as always, he was just as impressive on the other side of the ball with two interceptions, six recoveries and four duels won.
‘Man of the Match worthy,’ as one fan remarked, and had Messi not been so dazzling from set pieces, the young Dutchman would have probably been handed the accolade hands down.
The level of the display was not lost on Mundo Deportivo’s editor Javier Gascon, who remarked that De Jong ‘has already completed many good games with Barça, but [that against] Celta was perhaps the most prominent because, without the need for frills, he did almost everything well.’
‘He controlled the game, was well positioned tactically, stole [balls], covered [and tracked back] in solidarity and broke lines with quality driving and power. He exhibited precision with the ball and showed that the team can be put on his back,’ beamed Gascon.
In MD’S ‘1×1’ ratings, his showing was branded ‘complete’ for being ‘the most alert in recovery, the most accurate in passing, and the most determined to break lines by driving [forward].
Over at SPORT, they found that he ‘played something else’ – ‘a [brand of] football with more rhythm, more mobility, more tension and more, in short, desire to compete’.
Previously dubbed the ‘total footballer’ by the press, De Jong’s stock continues to rise in Catalonia and his lofty price tag appears more of a bargain each passing week.
