Is Frenkie de Jong's time up at Barcelona?

The midfielder has struggled for game time this season.

Over the past few years, Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong has been under immense media scrutiny. The midfielder has faced a lot of backlash from the fans as well. However, his performance had shut down all the negative feedback in those years, but this season it has been different.

De Jong is now seemingly becoming a fringe player at Barcelona. Following his injury before the Euro 2024, where the former Ajax player spent the majority of the new season on the sidelines, his importance has become minimal in the Catalan club’s squad.

There have been many instances when the club have tried to sell the Dutchman due to their financial struggles given he earns huge sums in wages. The first time came when Barcelona were seriously eager to sell him in 2022, but failed as he was reluctant to leave.

In recent summer transfer window, the club were once again keen on offloading him but an ankle injury meant he would continue to wear Barca’s shirt. Now his importance and place in the squad seems to be losing away. Why is that?

Is De Jong now a fringe player at Barcelona?

Barcelona needed a defensive midfielder and their financial issue saw them avoid making any signing in the summer transfer window. As usual, the club brought in a new player from the academy. This time it was Marc Bernal.

The Teenager quickly adjusted into Hansi Flick’s squad and became a key figure. But his time in the first team did not last long as he suffered an ACL injury.

However, Barcelona quickly got his replacement when they found another La Masia gem Marc Casado, who didn’t take time to make an impression. Since then he has been an integral part of Flick’s side. Now De Jong seems to have lost his place to Casado.

There are also feelings that the 27-year-old never lived up to the hype since his arrival at the club. It has been argued that he was never meant to fit in Barcelona’s system and has also never been consistent in every game.

Now it has been understood that he is struggling to remain fit in the matches. There are a few doubts about his robustness and physicality on the pitch. Injuries have also impeded his playing time this season. If it continues to happen then he might be sold by next summer window given his place is already occupied.

However, Flick’s comments on De Jong reveal that the German sees him as an important part of the squad. “De Jong has been through a long injury and took a heavy blow in Belgrade (in the Champions League against Crvena Zvezda last month), very painful, and that has to be managed. Now he needs to get his confidence back,” Flick said a week ago.

“I know it’s very important for him to get minutes, but we analyse every game and the important thing is to win. I want the best possible team and that’s how we make decisions. And that’s why maybe he doesn’t get as many minutes as he would want or as we would want.”

However, as of now, it remains uncertain what will happen with his future at the club given he will have a year remaining after the end of this year on his Barcelona contract.

🔵🔴⚠️ Hansi Flick: “I’m not interested in the outside noise on Frenkie de Jong”.“It’s clear for me because he's a key player for us”. pic.twitter.com/YUEGmOtl8T

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 11, 2024

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