Unless you’ve not been on your phone/tablet/computer for the past few months, you’ll be vaguely aware that Barcelona are interested in Ajax’s Frenkie de Jong.
The young Dutch midfielder is widely seen as one of the bigger up and coming prodigies in world football, and the La Liga champions have earmarked him as their next purchase to bolster their midfielder, trying to rejuvenate an area whose great cycle is coming to an end.
Xavi and Andres Iniesta have already left the club, leaving Sergio Busquets as the only survivor from their magnificent trio, while Ivan Rakitic isn’t getting any younger.
The club have already brought in Arthur from Gremio, hoping he’ll fill in one of the gaps down the line, and it seems De Jong is next.
Unfortunately for Barcelona, such talent attracts many suitors, and teams such as Manchester City and Real Madrid have also come sniffing, but the Catalan club remain calm.
This is what Mundo Deportivo are reporting on Wednesday, despite recent comments from the player’s agent, Ali Dursun, claiming the 21-year-old’s future rested solely in the hands of Ajax’s technical director, Marc Overmars.
Miguel Rico, the journalist writing the column, explains he felt it necessary to contact sources at the club after the representative’s quotes surfaced to check if their strategy to pull off the De Jong transfer had changed.
This is because ‘it is understood that the essential condition to end up defending the club’s badge is to want to wear the shirt above all, and without this compromise, a deal cannot be closed’.
Furthermore, ‘to play or not to play here depends on the footballer in question imposing his decision on his club of origin and other suitors’.
In a rather basic and crude nutshell, Barcelona will only sign players who force their way out of clubs.
That’s why, despite De Jong stating ‘a hundred times he wants to play alongside Messi’, Dursun’s comments sent alarm bells ringing in the Mundo Deportivo offices.
In their eyes, at least that’s how it comes across, the young midfielder is too nice and respects his current club too much.
He should be kicking down Overmars’ door, slamming his fist on his desk and asking, nay demanding, he be transferred to Barcelona at the soonest opportunity.
Maybe miss a couple of training sessions for good measure, too.
Either way, Barcelona reportedly have the entire situation ‘under control’, and still expect De Jong to be in their player come the end of the season.
