Frenkie de Jong was one of the most prominent players of the Dutch team in the win against Belgium on Friday night (1-4). The Barcelona midfielder pointed out after the game that the way he plays with Luis van Gaal is beneficial for his football, more than when he wears a Blaugrana.
"I play very differently here than at Barça. I think this suits me much better", declared the player to the NOS chain after being currently in the double pivot alongside Steven Berghuis, as he did at Ajax. "I like to be the first player to get the ball from defenders and connect with the attack," he added. At Barça, that role at the start of the play normally falls to Sergio Busquets, the team's only midfielder. De Jong acts more inside.
De Jong's fit at Barça has been the subject of debate in recent seasons. He has not finished exploiting his football at the Camp Nou, which has turned into criticism. Despite this, he is a fixture for Xavi, although due to Barça's economic needs and his good line-up, a sale cannot be ruled out, with Manchester United of his former coach at Ajax, Erick Ten Hag, as the most interested.
De Jong expressed last week that his intention is to continue at Barça and that no one from the club has spoken to him about the possibility of leaving. A sale of De Jong would be around 80 million euros, an amount not far removed from what the Catalan club paid in 2019.
For his part, the Dutch coach praised De Jong and Steven Bergwijn, who played "great". "Frenkie is always good with Oranje," said Van Gaal, who earlier announced that he has prostate cancer and will hand over his place to Ronald Koeman after the World Cup in Qatar.
The Netherlands ran over neighboring Belgium at home on the first day of the Nations League. The Dutch goals were the work of Bergwijn, Dumfries and also Blaugrana Memphis, twice. He was superior from start to finish in a match in which the Red Devils defense failed and his stars did not shine.
Kevin De Bruyne had warned that he was coming off a very busy season, Romelu Lukaku retired with discomfort after 25 minutes and Eden Hazard only played the first half, leaving no image to remember. The Real Madrid footballer is still out of shape.
