Barca English
Last summer a huge bid for Frenkie de Jong arrived at the Barcelona offices. He was from Manchester United and he’s one of those offers you can’t refuse.
Barcelona needed the money to go to Bernardo Silva, improve their “financial fair play” status and lower their wage bill. In addition, the salary of the Dutchman is quite large. So from within the club De Jong was pushed to leave.
However, the player flatly refused and still wanted to achieve the goal that he set for himself when he arrived at Camp Nou in 2019 from Ajax for 85 million euros, to succeed in the Barcelona shirt.
But the situation has changed drastically in recent months. While there was a possibility that De Jong might leave Barcelona, Xavi had less reliance on him. He spent almost the entire pre-season playing in the centre-back position and was a substitute in three of the first four league matches. Once the market closed, it was primary again.
Since then, De Jong has gained prominence both on the field and also as a midfielder when Busquets needed a break. For Xavi, he was and remains an important player in his schemes and now he is important again for the club.
At Barcelona they made it clear that the Dutch midfielder is important and not for sale. They know that the end of Busquets at the club is approaching and they also know the difficulties in finding his replacement, so Frenkie must continue at the club because he has shown that he can perform as a midfielder.
The change in strategy is evident. De Jong has gone from being sellable to important and the club want to give him affection because they know the Dutchman got very angry last summer when they were looking for a way out for him.
Indeed, the player is still furious and Barcelona is now indicating that in no way will he be asked to reduce his salary. They commented: “He has a contract and we respect him.”
De Jong signed his last contract in 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic under Bartomeu. The current council came to consider whether this contract was legal. Like Pique, Lenglet and Ter Stegen. The club announced the renewal of the four at the same time.
Source: Sport
