Frenkie De Jong

Arriving Summer 2019
Frenkie De Jong will join Barça on the 1st of July 2019. The transfer has cost €75m, with the transfer potentially rising to €86m through variables.
The Dutchman will sign a 5 year contract with Barça, keeping him at the club until 2024.

So What type of player he is? Xavi or Busquets. From what i have seen from you tube highlights he doesn't seems to be that special, if you consider price tag. Anyone who watch Ajax give us some input? Will be much appreciated.

Hard to compare him to either of them, from what I've seen of him in the Champions League.

But I think he's closer to an attacking CM

The club was clearly going to gun for a big name midfielder, and the name before DeJong was Pogba. So between Pogba and De Jong I think De Jong fits our teams midfield better.

with De Jong, Alena, Arthur and Puig we are set for a long time.

Btw with Denis basically being forced out this winter, it’s all but garunteed DeJong will be our new number 6

windkick wrote:Hard to compare him to either of them, from what I've seen of him in the Champions League.

But I think he's closer to an attacking CM

The club was clearly going to gun for a big name midfielder, and the name before DeJong was Pogba. So between Pogba and De Jong I think De Jong fits our teams midfield better.

with De Jong, Alena, Arthur and Puig we are set for a long time.

Frenkie is not really an AM, however he could play in a more Iniesta type role if put there. He's got a good dribble and is always looking for forward passing lines, but is used to do so from a DM role. He has a good tackle in him; quite strong at forcing turnovers in general. I believe he could be our Busi replacement, but I expect him to play more alongside Busi at first. From what I can tell from a few interviews with him, it seems like the club sees him as a versatile midfielder but mostly as a Busi replacement as well. Apparently they've told him he will be seeing quite a bit of play from the get go, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Rakitic and Vidal leave next summer or winter.

The way he plays really isn't comparable to any player that comes to mind. I've even seen him being compared to Redondo, but I don't know. Some of his plays remind me of Xavi (mostly how he shields the ball and how he tries to slow and speed up play) but he is in no way a carbon copy. I've mentioned it before, but I just recommend watching that game in and against France The Netherlands played in 2018. He was unfazed even though it was one of his first games for the NT and playing against a midfield with the likes of Kante, Griezmann and Pogba.

He really is the first Dutch midfielder since Sneijder that I believe in will be a top midfielder. As a Barca fan it is a dream come true for him. He's a humble guy and seems to know he needs to keep working hard and give his all. Also made a remark about really looking forward to playing with Messi, who he seems to idolize, but also stating immediately that he's not coming here to be a tourist.

Anyway, really believe in this kid. Quite a bit of people on this forum seem to think he's not all that and from what I've seen @Zigra is just avoiding that discussion. I guess we'll see who got it right. Just hope that the fans and coaching staff will not lose faith after he plays a few bad games. It is bound to happen at some point.

I don’t think his immediate talent or capability for the extraordinary on any given day seems exceptional, but the potential is clearly there, and I believe that’s why he was so sought after. He has a unique playing style, and plenty of time to improve on his most distinctive qualities, and Barca is perhaps the most ideal environment for that, if he truly is going to see a lot of action with the first team.

Frenkie De Jong completed the most passes (55) for Ajax and had the highest pass accuracy (89%) for Ajax against Real Madrid #UCL [uefa]

I haven't watched him many times but he didn't stand out at all yesterday. Played very deep and was often not involved in Ajax's build up play.

I've watched all his games since he signed for us. He is nothing special. Passes the ball to the nearest man all the time, not in a Busquets kind of way where he leaves players for dead with dummies and then plays quick balls through the lines - but literally sideways to a free teammate 10 yards away. Everything else he tries like lobs and long balls is hit or miss.

He is mobile and can drive the ball forward even though his dribbling isn't that great, that's about it. Will turn out another Gomes for us.

Lol standard. Wasn't expecting much more tbh. Van Der Saar was saying the other day that he's a cross between Isco and Hazard this guy is a sporting director FFS

Now you need to complete the signing of De Ligt to be complete your squad of flops. No to mention add yet another CB to your lacking roster

Tbh De Ligt is a better talent than De Jong. For a 19 year old CB who is about 8 years away from his prime he is doing well even though it's hard to judge given the level of Eredivisie. But De Jong doesn't impress me even in the Dutch League.

De Ligt has occasionally impressed me when I’ve watched Ajax play - especially, considering his age. I think you’d be lucky to get him.

futbol wrote:I've watched all his games since he signed for us. He is nothing special. Passes the ball to the nearest man all the time, not in a Busquets kind of way where he leaves players for dead with dummies and then plays quick balls through the lines - but literally sideways to a free teammate 10 yards away. Everything else he tries like lobs and long balls is hit or miss.

He is mobile and can drive the ball forward even though his dribbling isn't that great, that's about it. Will turn out another Gomes for us.

Oh, you mean the period of time in which he was playing injured and/or coming back from an injury and/or the entire team was underperforming? Yes, a totally fair few games to determine his quality, especially considering his age.

Don't want to become De Jong's Jiospi so will stop with defending him now, but people need to stop the knee jerks sometimes.

Madvillain wrote:

futbol wrote:I've watched all his games since he signed for us. He is nothing special. Passes the ball to the nearest man all the time, not in a Busquets kind of way where he leaves players for dead with dummies and then plays quick balls through the lines - but literally sideways to a free teammate 10 yards away. Everything else he tries like lobs and long balls is hit or miss.

He is mobile and can drive the ball forward even though his dribbling isn't that great, that's about it. Will turn out another Gomes for us.

Oh, you mean the period of time in which he was playing injured and/or coming back from an injury and/or the entire team was underperforming? Yes, a totally fair few games to determine his quality, especially considering his age.

Don't want to become De Jong's Jiospi so will stop with defending him now, but people need to stop the knee jerks sometimes.

He's choosing to be contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. He probably hasn't watched him aside from a few youtube videos and the Madrid game. He made his mind up to have an anti-De Jong agenda from the second Barca signed him.

I don't know how you can watch him and not see something special. He's a CM who has the biggest game-changing tool in football which is dribbling. He's excellent at carrying the ball up the pitch. In fact, he first caught my attention when he was playing as a CB and was making Beckenbauer-esque runs early last season. This is someone who can break lines with his both dribbling and his vertical passing. He isn't some slow sideways passing merchant. He's a dynamic player.

He's versatile. He can play anywhere in the midfield and slot back as an emergency CB. Watch him play too. He's really graceful and composed on the ball. He's almost impossible to press. Even Mueller complained about how hard it is to take the ball off him after the Netherlands-Germany friendlies earlier in the year.

He isn't some unathletic midget who can't defend. He's actually pretty athletic, tall, and is a good defender. He has all the tools to develop into a world class CM. It'll be interesting to see what kind of role he'll undertake at Barca. I know at Ajax, for the most part, he plays as a deep 8 and close to the DM. Hence, he has a simpler game.

Madvillain do you see De Jong playing at the base as a 6 (Busquets), as an advanced 8 (Iniesta), or a deeper 8 (Kroos)?

Either way, I don't get why some of you lot want him to fail or are willingly skeptical about him. Awful fanbase. I saw the same thing with Arthur and Dembele and now y'all are nutriders. You get all these talented, young ballers yet have no appreciation for them ffs. Some of you really deserve the likes of Song and Paulinho instead.

Casciavit wrote:Either way, I don't get why some of you lot want him to fail or are willingly skeptical about him. Awful fanbase. I saw the same thing with Arthur and Dembele and now y'all are nutriders. You get all these talented, young ballers yet have no appreciation for them ffs. Some of you really deserve the likes of Song and Paulinho instead.

So well said

Casciavit

I think only futbol is skeptical of De Jong, most Barca fans seem pretty excited about the signing.... I liked Arthur from the beginning. Dembele won me over with time.

I was under the impression that people were just poking fun at CB for hyping up Arthur I'm pretty sure I took part in it.

Casciavit wrote:

Madvillain wrote:

futbol wrote:I've watched all his games since he signed for us. He is nothing special. Passes the ball to the nearest man all the time, not in a Busquets kind of way where he leaves players for dead with dummies and then plays quick balls through the lines - but literally sideways to a free teammate 10 yards away. Everything else he tries like lobs and long balls is hit or miss.

He is mobile and can drive the ball forward even though his dribbling isn't that great, that's about it. Will turn out another Gomes for us.

Oh, you mean the period of time in which he was playing injured and/or coming back from an injury and/or the entire team was underperforming? Yes, a totally fair few games to determine his quality, especially considering his age.

Don't want to become De Jong's Jiospi so will stop with defending him now, but people need to stop the knee jerks sometimes.

He's choosing to be contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. He probably hasn't watched him aside from a few youtube videos and the Madrid game. He made his mind up to have an anti-De Jong agenda from the second Barca signed him.

I don't know how you can watch him and not see something special. He's a CM who has the biggest game-changing tool in football which is dribbling. He's excellent at carrying the ball up the pitch. In fact, he first caught my attention when he was playing as a CB and was making Beckenbauer-esque runs early last season. This is someone who can break lines with his both dribbling and his vertical passing. He isn't some slow sideways passing merchant. He's a dynamic player.

He's versatile. He can play anywhere in the midfield and slot back as an emergency CB. Watch him play too. He's really graceful and composed on the ball. He's almost impossible to press. Even Mueller complained about how hard it is to take the ball off him after the Netherlands-Germany friendlies earlier in the year.

He isn't some unathletic midget who can't defend. He's actually pretty athletic, tall, and is a good defender. He has all the tools to develop into a world class CM. It'll be interesting to see what kind of role he'll undertake at Barca. I know at Ajax, for the most part, he plays as a deep 8 and close to the DM. Hence, he has a simpler game.

Madvillain do you see De Jong playing at the base as a 6 (Busquets), as an advanced 8 (Iniesta), or a deeper 8 (Kroos)?

Either way, I don't get why some of you lot want him to fail or are willingly skeptical about him. Awful fanbase. I saw the same thing with Arthur and Dembele and now y'all are nutriders. You get all these talented, young ballers yet have no appreciation for them ffs. Some of you really deserve the likes of Song and Paulinho instead.

His dribbling is average even in the Dutch League, he is statistically not even in the top 15 dribblers of the Eredivisie. He is a loose dribbler who can't get past anyone because the ball is not glued to his feet, he only drives the ball up until someone comes in his path then stops because he lays the ball too far forward while dribbling. The fact alone that you hype his dribbling ability up so much shows me who knows more about the player.

Even in this game against an atrocious team which Ajax dominated 6-0 you can see that his touch and dribbling is average:



1:23 Ball bounces too far off his foot when trying a one-two.

2:21 and 4:46 His awareness at passing the ball over a longer distance than 10 yards.

At 10:22 you can see his "magical dribbling". Kicks the ball into space and is stopped by the very first defensive attempt.

In La Liga he will look 10 times worse. This is Eredivisie, ranked below Ukraine and Turkey.

I didn't pick a specifically bad game from him either. It's a game his team won 6-0.

Song and Paulinho? No one wanted these players. Were only supposed to be squad players anyway, not future starters.

Dembélé and Arthur? No one dissed Arthur. Most didn't know him anyway, no one watches Brasileiro. In the compilations he resembled Xavi style-wise and people said as much.

Dembélé was rightfully criticized when he didn't even bother to arrive in time to training.

The only thing he's got going for him is that Rakitic doesn't have any purpose anymore without Alves and Messi dominating the right side and Rakitic doing the dirty work for them. So he might even get into the starting XI.

I don't believe you've ever watched a full Ajax game lately so don't pretend like you know the player inside out from a few clips.

Who's the greater midfield talent than Frenkie at 21 years of age then, in your opinion?

Frenkie de Jong's game by numbers vs. Real Madrid:

100% tackles won
100% aerials won
91% passing accuracy
75 touches
6 ball recoveries
3 clearances
2 take-ons completed
1 interception
1 shot blocked
1 foul won

He was pretty great tonight. I can't wait for his first appearance with us.

I really don't want to be some sort of reverse-jiopsi considering him. But he was average again amidst a blistering team performance but I know the result alone will be enough to hype him up individually.

There were at least 5 Ajax players better than him and he had the giveaway of the game to Benzema who decided to slip.

Barring the slip up towards the end, he had a very good game. Highlight was him performing the Laudrup dribble and putting Modric on his ass. So calm and composed in possession.

Yeah I agree he stepped into the Bernabeu against a midfield feared by most of Europe, and was great and composed in possession and his decision making. Obviously he isnt an attacking player and that’s not his role, so he didn’t stand out like Ziyech or Tadic. But he kept Casemiro/Kroos/Modric looking lost all game. Mind you this same Madrid gave Barcas midfield all sorts of trouble 2 games in a row.

I was very impressed. I will say i think he’s too similar to Arthur in the role he uses his game, so having them start together and you have to wonder where the creative final third passes will be coming from