Erik ten Hag has not coached Barça nor has he had a past at Barça nor is he known to have a special relationship with the Barcelona club. And yet, the Dutch coach of Manchester United treasures in his football culture and in his imaginary characters that are linked to the Camp Nou to the core. He was coach of the Bayern subsidiary at the time when Josep Guardiola was in charge of the Bavarian team and, as he acknowledged to the UEFA media, in his office he had two photographs of Johan Cruyff. In addition, he is considered the coach who turned Frenkie de Jong, whom he wanted to sign for United this summer, into an elite footballer. The De Jong that is finally being seen in Barcelona, loose, determined, easy-going, natural... and almost playing in a double pivot is the one that Ten Hag pulled out of his sleeve after landing on the Ajax bench as a firefighter in December 2017.
So De Jong was just a worthy young man who had just risen to the first team of the Àmsterdam team after starting at Willem II, an undefined player, in a period of growth. He was even placed at center-back on occasions, which, in the eyes of Ten Hag, was "a waste." Because? Because De Jong already liked risk, driving and overcoming lines with the ball controlled and looking up. Too mobile and dynamic to play as a positional midfielder, a circumstance that has taken its toll on him for too long at Barcelona. To make the most of his virtues, the coach modified the sacrosanct Ajax system, the 4-3-3 that made him famous in his best days, and opted for the 4-2-3-1, protecting De Jong and allowing him freedom to “generate spaces”.
With today's Barcelona player as one of the keys to the vault, Ajax was improving and in 2019 they were very close to getting into the Champions League final after storming the Bernabeu and eliminating Madrid. Only Tottenham prevented him from playing Liverpool for the title. By then Barcelona had already signed De Jong for the following season and Ten Hag had become a championship strategist. “Frenkie loves that position, the double pivot with freedom, that allows him to drive and create space. He is like a photographer on the pitch, because of his vision of the game, ”said the coach about his pupil in 2019.
When his habitat in Barcelona was not found and he was asked to arrive more and to set foot in the Ten Hag area, he was against it. He has always seen him as an architect, not a finisher and he recounted that he once told him off for going too high on attack.
Now it seems that Xavi has picked up the baton from all those coordinates and is placing it in a position more similar to the one that allowed him to jump to the first row.
The coach and De Jong will meet again this Thursday in the Europa League in Barcelona. Ten Hag believes that it will be a very interesting game and praises the role of the Blaugrana coach. “I admired him as a footballer and I really like his game philosophy and his way of seeking victory through attacking football. I think Barça is going in the right direction. Two teams face each other in good shape," said the Dutchman on the UEFA website. The tactical game is served.
