Ernesto Valverde and Of Jong in a replacement

HE PLAYED THE 24 GAMES OF THE COURSE

De Jong is confirmed as the new right hand of Valverde

Published:27/12/2019 - 20:48h

Updated:27/12/2019 - 20:48h

Frenkie de Jong is the only Barça player who has played in every game so far this season. The Dutch, untouchable for Valverde, also ends 2019 having lost only one match between Barcelona, ​​Ajax and Holland

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Frenkie de Jong is 22 years old and one of the midfielders who must dominate football over the next decade. The Dutchman is already an indisputable in FC Barcelona and it is normal that he goes to more with the passage of the games and the time. His adaptation to the Barcelona team has been spectacular and it has hardly been noticed that he has gone from playing in the Eredivisie to doing so in the competitive Santander League.

At his age, it would have been normal for him to have noticed the change of pace, the highest competitive level or, at least, that it would have taken him to join the Barça system. But the reality has been very different, since since its first shock it has been adapted and exhibiting a great level. It is true that it can still give more and that the overwhelming version that was seen in Ajax last season has not been seen, but still its performance has been remarkably high.

Such has been its impact on Barça that Ernesto Valverde has not given him respite in these first months of competition. The coach of Blaugrana has used De Jong in each and every one of the matches that have played the Culés this course. The Dutchman is the only player in Barcelona who has played in the 24 games so far this season. In addition, Arkel has been a starter in 22 and has only been a substitute in two of them.

The two matches in which the Dutchman did not leave the game were against Villarreal, in which he played 27 minutes, and against Alavés, in which he had only 11. In total, Frenkie has played 18 LaLiga Santander games and the six Champions League, including Inter Milan, despite the fact that Barça no longer played anything. Against the interists, he played only a little less than half an hour. In the rest of the Champions League, he was always 90 minutes on the grass.

Of those 22 crashes in which he has dressed short from the start, he has only been replaced in six. Valverde has given him the keys to the midfield and De Jong is responding to that confidence with good play and overwhelming regularity. With Arthur, Arturo Vidal, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets and Carles Aleñá as direct competition, that the Dutchman has been so important says a lot about him and how he sees the 'Txingurri'.

In Ajax, as is happening in Barcelona, ​​the midfielder was also untouchable and only one match between Champions, league and Cup has been lost since he started this 2019. The same thing happened with the Netherlands and he has played everything this year. The physical level that the Dutchman has shown in 2019 is commendable, since he has never given signs of fatigue. All the coaches he has had this year have blindly trusted him and in 2020 it seems that he will be as indisputable as he usually is.

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