"I already decided in May that I wanted to stay at Barcelona"
His future was in doubt for a lot of time, but according to his words he never hesistated
"I always wanted to stay at Barcelona and this is why I always remained calm in the summer", that was Frenkie de Jong's reply when he was asked to comment on the transfer drama that surrounded him this summer, when FC Barcelona put him against the walls demanding that he got a wage cut or get packing while the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Bayern Munich waiting on the sidelines.
Frenkie de Jong took a number of questions ahead of his commitment to the Dutch National Team
The Dutch midfielder was part of the press conference together with his Dutch National Team coach Louis van Gaal, as the Oranje are set to take on Poland and Belgium in the UEFA Nations League, and the topic of his situation over the summer obviously came up.
"I already decided in May that I wanted to stay at Barcelona. I never changed this decision during the summer", explained De Jong about the rumours linking with a number of top teams from the Premier League and other top leagues.
The assumption was that while the Barcelona board (led by club president Joan Laporta) and head coach Xavi Hernández always wanted to keep De Jong on the squad, the options presented to him were either getting a new contract with wages according to the new structure put in place by Barcelona or getting a move. "I can't give too much details away. But look, the club has it's own idea's and I have my own idea's too and sometimes this clashes with each other. But at the end of the day things went okay", said the Dutch midfielder on the matter.
During the season prior to last, De Jong was asked to defer a big chunk of his salary by the club, who owe him a reported 17 million euros, and his agent has always been adamant that they did not intend to take the pay cut. So far, however, nothing has happened, which was probably the players intentions all along.
That way, so far he's been enjoying being a Barcelona player, which De Jong once called his "dream club". The Dutch midfielder had nothing by praise about one of his latest teammates, who he will face now in The Netherlands' clash with Poland: "Robert Lewandowski is a really nice person. He is one of the best players in the world and he is an all-round striker. He is strong, he can hold the ball, his technical ability is really good, he makes a lot of runs and he scores a lot of goals".
De Jong looked all but set to depart Barcelona, but things went his way
Up to this point, Frenkie de Jong has made six appearances for Barcelona, scoring a single goal in the Blaugranas 4-0 trashing of Cadiz.
Continue reading: HISTORIC: Sergio Busquets set to leave Barcelona
Esta nota habla de:
