Frenkie de Jong is still in no man’s land

Thread Frenkie de Jong the equator of what he had signed as a Barça player. It’s been two and a half years now. Although his contract, signed by Josep Maria Bartomeu in that renovation package with Pique, Lenglet Y Ter Stegen, was extended until 2026. And he lines it up between doubts about his performance, which has been declining without having the impact he imagined when the club paid 75 million euros plus 11 in variables to Ajax for him in January 2019.

More than interesting things were glimpsed, especially in the final stretch of last year when Koeman He reformulated the team with the 3-5-2 that gave him the Cup and led him to fight for the League until the tragic disaster with Granada at the Camp Nou. Seven goals and eight assists certify that they were his best days as a Barça player.

Now, on the other hand, the figure of a dull midfielder continues to be seen. Sometimes he is even seen sad in the field. Without the daring and self-confidence that captivated the greats of Europe. Guardiola wanted to take him to City. But it was not successful. Nor did Paris SG fight for the young man who amazed at Ajax in Ten Hag converted, along with De Ligt, in the headlights of the new oranje revolution.

Frenkie chose to come to the Camp Nou, attracted as he was by the Dutch imprint woven over the last decades, listening to the definitive advice of Ronald Koeman, who was then his coach. Later, he was his coach at Barça. De Ligt opted to go to Italy, the homeland of power plants. But neither one nor the other have exhibited the performance in Barcelona and Turin that made them jewels of the future and, of course, of the immediate present.

no chemistry

Frenkie is still waiting for him, as if he had not finished establishing a complete chemistry with Busquets, the guardian of the essences in midfield, the only survivor of that unrepeatable trio formed with Xavi and Iniesta.

They do not finish connecting and now, in addition, the competition has increased significantly. Pedri it’s back. And the influence of the young Canarian in the Super Cup classic, where the former Ajax player was substituted at half-time, was immediate, which therefore becomes a threat because there are resources, and to spare, in the room of machines.

Pedri, Busquets, Nico, Gavi and leaving Riqui Puig as a last resort, as Xavi has made clear. Frenkie was only seen on the 1-1 play when he burst into Courtois’ area, heading back for Dembélé to serve the cross that turned into an assist for Luuk de Jong thanks to Militao’s faulty clearance.

Little, too little for someone who must be a structural footballer in the sporting regeneration of Barça. One of those middle-class players who should make a difference.

Two assists and one goal

For one reason or another, Frenkie does not finish finding his place in that tactical ecosystem that inhabits Barça, radically different from the one used by the Netherlands. You don’t see that dazzling De Jong, even hypnotizing when he broke rivals with that elegant driving while burning meters with authority.

Its importance cannot be measured, nor should it be, based on the statistics he has signed this season, his third as a Barça player. He was never a midfielder with excessive goals. But he only has one goal, the one that scored against Villarreal (November 27), in almost five months of competition.

The problem is that he has only given away two assists and they are too far away on the calendar. Both in August, both at the Camp Nou. Gave the center for you Braithwaite scored the first of his two goals against Real Sociedad (August 15) and connected with Memphis for him to score against Getafe (August 29).

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Xavi needs to recover that lost version of Frenkie. Hence, he made him a starter in the Riyadh classic, although he later removed it. In Bilbao it will be known on Thursday if he is still a pillar or has already been surpassed by the youngsters.