Frenkie de Jong: Good in the Netherlands, Lacking in Barcelona

DBasia.news –  Frenkie de Jong had just scored his first goal for the Dutch national team. De Jong performed great against Germany and his performance was inversely different from when he strengthened Barcelona.

In the continuing match of the 2020 European Cup Qualifiers group, the Netherlands won a landslide victory over Germany, Saturday (7/9). In the match, De Jong scored his first goal for the national team in the 59^th minute, which was followed by an own goal by Jonathan Tah, Donyell Malen, and Georginio Wijnaldum.

Not just scoring goals, Frenkie de Jong’s contribution was also fantastic.

De Jong made 81 touches of the ball, successful passes with a ratio of 93 percent (66 successful passes from 71 operands), twice managed to dribble the ball from three attempts, twice in cutting the opponent’s ball path, winning three of the seven dueling for the ball, and seven times successfully passed a gastric ball.

The statistics match the great talent and great performance he showed at Ajax Amsterdam last season. Indirectly, Ronald Koeman, the Dutch coach, showed Ernesto Valverde, the Barcelona coach, how to maximize De Jong’s potential.

Having difficulties in Barcelona

Barcelona brought in De Jong at a fantastic price of 75 million euros, from Ajax. De Jong is often compared to Xavi Hernandez, Barca legend, with his playing style and how he adjust the tempo of playing in the centre. His style of play is considered in accordance with the philosophy of Barca’s football.

However, De Jong is still having trouble adapting to Valverde’s tactics at Barcelona. The existence of Sergio Busquets has forced De Jong to play as a central midfielder who widened to the wing side, while De Jong could only perform optimally if he was given the freedom to organize attacks in midfield.

Whether as a pivot (anchor midfielder) or central, De Jong’s talent will only be seen if he plays in that position.

“I saw Barcelona’s last matches and Frenkie played almost to the wing side. I don’t believe that was his best position: he should have played in the centre or as a defensive midfielder,” said Ronald de Boer, former Barca player and youth team coach of Ajax.

“I don’t know what Valverde will do. What I know now is that Frenkie might have to be patient. Busquets has played in his position, even though he always plays with the same quality when competing.”

Of course this will be Valverde’s homework in Barcelona. Valverde has midfielders with different types of play. It’s not easy for him to mix a team with the right balance in midfield.

Santi Gimenez, in his article in the AS (Spanish media), writes that the ‘real’ De Jong is a player who is given the freedom to regulate the midfield of the game – to become an orchestra or a game metronome.

“De Jong returned to the position of pivot in the fantastic victory of the Netherlands over Germany in Hamburg. He led Oranje from a position of depth and dribbling the ball forward, so he can score goals,” wrote Gimenez.

Placing De Jong in that role in Barcelona, ​​with Busquets, is like uniting the same two poles (it won’t happen). So, Valverde has to rack his brain to maximize De Jong’s potential.