Marc Overmars Rates De Jong Still Needs Adaptation Process in Barcelona

DBasia.news –  De Jong, 22, was recruited by Barcelona from Ajax in the transfer market this summer for 75 million euros. If you look at the style of play and compare it with the philosophy of Barcelona’s football, they are the perfect pair.

However, in the first two LaLiga matches, De Jong has yet to show his best quality as when he defended Ajax. Regarding this, Overmars hopes fans will understand as De Jong also needs an adaptation process with the culture of Spanish football.

“It’s too fast to analyze his game at Barca, the league has just begun and he needs more time (to adapt). Frengkie could have played there for 10 years,” said Overmars, as reported by Sport-English.

“We all need time to adapt. The coach should find the best position for everyone (De Jong’s playing position and all the players). That also happened to us at Ajax, he had to find his best position, he needed time to know which position was the best for him.”

De Jong and Barcelona’s disunified game can be seen through statistics on OptaJohan. In the match against Real Betis last weekend, although Barcelona won a landslide 5-2, De Jong was not dominant in the midfield.

“Frenkie de Jong has fewer touches of the ball than other starters who played for Barcelona against Real Betis (73 times),” Opta stated.

De Jong’s difficulties can indeed be understood in Barcelona. In contrast to Ajax when De Jong was dominant there among the other midfielders, at Barcelona, De Jong had to share roles with Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic.

Not to mention the other midfielders like Carles Alena, Rafinha, Arthur and Arturo Vidal. So, Ernesto Valverde had to give him the right role and portion to play. Either as a central midfielder, anchor, or midfielder-offensive.