Frenkie de Jong explodes at Barca... why now?

Barcelona taken longer to unlock Frenkie de Jong than expected. There was a big gap between what the fans imagined of him and what he had been, in reality.

De Jong arrived at Barca as a great hope. The quintessential positional play man, and a saviour of the club’s style. Frenkie came to remind us who we are and connect us once again with the Dutch tradition. But that quickly became a contradiction to what we saw on the pitch.

De Jong doesn’t only not look like Busquets, but instead his opposite. While Busi feels comfortable with order, De Jong shines in chaos and anarchy.

While one is about first touch, the other makes the difference driving forward in games that go forward and back. They have one thing in common: they have grown up being connected to the base of each move. And that tendency caused discomfort when they play in the double pivot together. 

De Jong shone at Ajax in a type of double pivot, surrounded with players like Schone, Van de Beek and Tadic. De Jong started the move and later advanced out of his position.

At Barca have started off with Valverde and Setien as an interior in the 4-3-3. And he was another player, less involved and more timid, without his range at Ajax. Some of hiss best game came as the CDM without Busquets on the pitch.

De Jong was conscious of the debate around his position and performance. A year ago, he spoke to this newspaper. 

“If I talk about my performance, it could have been greater this year,” said De Jong. “I think that I haven’t played many bad games but I have not been able to chain up a lot of good ones. I think that when I’ve been good I’ve played alright but good enough.”

Accustomed to intensity at Ajax, he wasn’t happy with Barcelona’s low training workload. Abidal revealed that, back in the day.

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Koeman, however, spoke to SPORT while Holland coach about De Jong at Barca.

“De Jong is very good and he will play better when in his natural position. This year is a year of transition for him, like what happened to me when I signed for Barca in 1989. He will succeed at Barca, I’m sure.”

Frenkie’s role is more central, not as an interior at Barca which often sees players pushed nearly to the sideline.

Sometimes at Ajax he was used at centre-back too. Sometimes versatility can count against a player.

When Koeman came to Barca, everyone thought this was De Jong’s time. He would take over in the Busquets role. However Koeman decided to use a double pivot, the 4-2-3-1.

In theory it would allow Frenkie to play more centrally. He improved but we were still not seeing his best version. Barca ended up in a results crisis and Koeman changed his plan. He went 4-3-3.

So the question came up again, what now for De Jong? And the answer came in unexpected form. A new De Jong without the role he had at Ajax but far freer to explode.

Koeman has had many conversations with him to find out how he’s feeling and push him to keep growing. Including before he came to Barca, when De Jong had plenty of offers, they spoke to decide his future.

Nowadays he is spending much more time in the box. Koeman wants that of his midfielders, and with Busquets, De Jong and Pedri there is a good balance.

That’s helped De Jong get into the goals. He has four already, six in two seasons with Barca. The same as he managed in his time at Ajax.

This is not the Frenkie of Ajax. Or of Holland. It’s the Barca Frenkie, and now it seems he has found his place.