Frenkie de Jong Follows in the footsteps of Dutch Legends at Barca
There is always an uncontrollable sense of excitement around the Nou Camp when Barcelona bring in the latest Ajax prodigy to the club for the Dutch outfit are known for producing world-beaters. Frenkie de Jong’s arrival in Barcelona was no different with the youngster welcomed with open arms by the Catalan faithful after enjoying a breakthrough season with Ajax.
Bitterness and anger often go hand-in-hand with transfers normally as a club’s supporters battle to come to terms with one of their sought after players leaving. In a refreshing change, this is absolutely not the case with Ajax or their fans, given how far the club have gone out of their way to send young Frenkie off with their best wishes, the latest example being Ajax hiring a bus to thank the Barcelona bound de Jong.
Ajax are currently driving a bus through Barcelona, telling Barcelona fans to enjoy the signing of Frenkie de Jong. 🇳🇱
— 433 (@official433) July 5, 2019
Class act! 👏🏻
📸: @AFCAjax pic.twitter.com/U2ZsRM7Ibf
The relationship between Ajax and Barcelona is obviously a very good one as well as mutually beneficial. The Ajax philosophy has never been built around keeping their best players and Barcelona are always happy to pay out handsomely for one of their young stars, as de Jong’s £67m transfer fee shows. At the end of the day, everyone wins.
With the 21-year-old’s move now complete, de Jong becomes the 20th Dutch player to join Barcelona and what a prestigious line of players he follows in the footsteps of. With the likes of Johann Cruyff, Marc Overmars, Ronald Koeman, the de Boer twins and Edgar Davids making up just a few names on the list, de Jong will have big shoes to fill.
As things go, the youngster arrives at a time in Barcelona’s history where they are enjoying a dominant spell domestically having won four out of the last five La Liga titles. All signs point towards a hat-trick of league trophies with the Catalans at 4/6 in football betting to win the 2019/2020 La Liga season but it will be in Europe where the club is most desperate to succeed.
Despite being only 21-years-old, de Jong will bring with him more than adequate Champions League experience having reached the last four with Ajax last season only to be dumped out by a last-gasp Lucas Moura finish. Both de Jong and Barcelona will be looking to make amends for untimely exits in Europe’s greatest club competition and you get the feeling that it will only be a matter of time before Barca get their hands on the Champions League trophy again.
😍 @DeJongFrenkie21
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 5, 2019
✅ Passed Physical
🔜 Camp Nou pic.twitter.com/BwFh3ZMdop
Barcelona have been spoilt over the course of their history by the quality of their Dutch imports and de Jong shouldn’t disappoint during his time at the Nou Camp.
He has all the familiar traits that could be spotted in the legends to have previously arrived from Holland before him but most of all, and apart from just being a magnificent ball playing midfielder, he has a wise head on young shoulders which counts+ for a great deal in the quest to becomes the best midfielder in world football. Watch this space, this young man could well become the game’s most complete central midfielder to be seen over the last 20 years.