What's going on with De Jong? The comparison between Ajax and Barça

Frenkie de Jong was the signing that generated the most excitement ahead of the season. The Dutchman represented the rejuvenation of the team and the reemergence of the football connection between Ajax and Barcelona. Above all, he stood out as a midfielder with La Masia's principles at heart. 

His credit remains intact although he's only shown his Ajax form on occasions. In Barcelona there is a debate about his performances, but in Ajax they openly question why he's not the same player. 

Former Barça and Holland coach Louis van Gaal, in his typical direct style, said recently: "He's not playing in his position. At Ajax, everyone looked for him, he was the centre of the play, he isn't at Barça. That's the big difference." 

His former coach at Ajax, Erik ten Hag, also criticised his role at Camp Nou. He says he should be playing deeper, being allowed to control games rather than asked to get forward. 

Gullit: "THE PERFECT SON-IN-LAW..."

Another Dutch great, Ruud Gullit, told SPORT recently: "De Jong is the perfect son-in-law, but you have to ask more from him." 

For the ex-Feyenoord, PSV, Milan and Chelsea, says he should be passing the ball forward, not running with it. He also asked for him to become more a box-to-box midfielder. 

NEW ROLE AT BARÇA 

At 22 (12-05-1997), the future of Barça, the club's style, passes through the boots of De Jong. The club and fans recognise that, but he needs to find his role and evolve. 

De Jong must carry out that evolution to his game at the same time as adapting to a new dressing room and a new culture at a time when Barcelona are going through a change of the guard. It's a triple challenge for a player of immense quality, a precious talent who has shown great maturity despite his years. 

Despite the debate in Holland about his performances, Barcelona's coaches, first Ernesto Valverde and now Quique Setien, have always stuck by him. 

They both share one premise, though: from the start, the pivote of the team is Sergio Busquets and De Jong must be one of the interiors (16 times on the left, 11 times on the right), often in a much more advanced position than is normal, limiting his qualities from a deeper role. 

DE JONG-SCHÖNE 45, DE JONG-BUSQUETS, 1

In just nine games has De jong played as a pivote on his own, normally to help give Busquests a rest. They've only played as a double pivote together once, at Leganes. 

BARÇA 2019/20: 36 games played / 2 goals / 4 assists / 2,829 minutes: Second most called up player (36, behind Griezmann's 37), has played the most games (36, like Griezmann) and is fourth in minutes (2,829', behind Ter Stegen's 2,970').

POSITION (AT START)	PLAYERS	GP
Double pivote (1)	De Jong-Busquets	1
Pivote (8)	Arthur-De Jong-Rakitic-Vidal (diamond)	1
	Aleñá-De Jong-Arturo Vidal	2
	Aleñá-De Jong-S. Roberto	1
	Rakitic-De Jong-S. Roberto	1
	Arthur-De Jong-Arturo Vidal	2
	Fati-R.Puig-De Jong-Rakitic-Semedo	1
Left CM (16)	De Jong-Busquets-S. Roberto	2
	De Jong-Rakitic-S. Roberto	2
	De Jong-Busquets-Arturo Vidal	4
	De Jong-Busquets-Rakitic	6
	De Jong-Busquets-Arthur	2
Right XM (11)	Arthur-Busquets-De Jong	8
	Arthur-S. Roberto-De Jong	1
	Arthur-S. Roberto-De Jong	1
	Rakitic-Busquets-De Jong	1

It's very different to the role he had last season at Ajax: According to Transfermarkt, in 45 games he played as part of a double pivote, 38 times alongside the Dane Lasse Schöne, now at Genoa. 

AJAX 2018/19: 52 games played / 4 goals / 4 assists / 4,411 minutes: Sixth most called up player (55, behind Blind and Van de Beek's 57), played the sixth-most games (52, behind Blind and Van de Beek's 57) and was fifth in minutes (4,411', behind Blind's 4,919' ).

POSITION (AT START)	PLAYERS	GP
Double pivote (1)	De Jong-Busquets	1
Pivote (8)	Arthur-De Jong-Rakitic-Vidal (diamond)	1
	Aleñá-De Jong-Arturo Vidal	2
	Aleñá-De Jong-S. Roberto	1
	Rakitic-De Jong-S. Roberto	1
	Arthur-De Jong-Arturo Vidal	2
	Fati-R.Puig-De Jong-Rakitic-Semedo	1
Left CM (16)	De Jong-Busquets-S. Roberto	2
	De Jong-Rakitic-S. Roberto	2
	De Jong-Busquets-Arturo Vidal	4
	De Jong-Busquets-Rakitic	6
	De Jong-Busquets-Arthur	2
Right XM (11)	Arthur-Busquets-De Jong	8
	Arthur-S. Roberto-De Jong	1
	Arthur-S. Roberto-De Jong	1
	Rakitic-Busquets-De Jong	1

As the table shows, on two occasions, when Schöne was missing, he played as a single pivote in a three-man midfield. And, on five occasions, he played as a centre-back, either with Blind or De Ligt. 

It's evident that Ajax and Barcelona are teams with a similar base but that interpret football in a different way, in part because of the resources available to each coach. For that reason, the objective is, before recovering the Amserstam version of Frenkie de Jong, getting the best version out of the adapted Barcelona version. And that's where De Jong is...