Barcelona: Frenkie de Jong confirms Ajax stay

The Dutch midfielder confirmed that he will stay with Ajax for another year after being asked about his future in the aftermath of the Dynamo Kiev match.

Frenkie de Jong has been heavily linked with Barcelona all summer due to the fact that he is one of the few players who could replace Sergio Busquets. However, a potential move has always been dependent on whether the Dutch club were able to qualify for the Champions League due to his importance in the squad and how they wanted to keep a strong team together for that competition.

Ajax entered qualifying for the Champions group stages in the second round due to the Netherlands having a low coefficient and the side from Amsterdam were only able to finish second in the league last season. This hasn’t stopped them from reaching the proper competition, though, because they have steamrolled through their opponents with 5-1, 5-2 and 3-1 aggregate victories over Sturm Graz, Standard Liege and Dynamo Kiev respectively.

The 0-0 draw away in Kiev confirmed their place in the group stage draw and eliminated any chance of Barcelona signing de Jong this summer. In an interview with NOS post-match, the youngster confirmed this by committing his future to the club, although he didn’t discredit the idea of joining the Catalans altogether.

Another year of development as well as experience in the Champions League would benefit Barcelona because he wouldn’t be a guaranteed starter if he had moved during this window, although that will come at the expense of a higher transfer fee.

There is clearly a desire for this transfer to happen from the two parties, so it just appears a matter of time and Barca should be at the front of the queue next summer. He is vastly talented for his age because he can dictate the tempo of matches, provide solutions to break through the opposition in the build-up stage and understands positional play well. His average of 91.4% pass accuracy, 2.5 dribbles and 1.5 key passes per game in the Eredivisie last season, per WhoScored, shows his importance to the team’s attacking and possession play.

The Eredivisie is an excellent place for young players to start their senior career and build up their first-team minutes, however, it lacks the quality of top divisions in areas such as pressing as a unit, so players have more time on the ball. De Jong will be 22 next summer, which would make it an ideal time to move in order to continue his development in a tougher league. The Catalans should be able to do without him this season because Sergi Samper, Oriol Busquets and Arturo Vidal provide back-up for Sergio Busquets while Ivan Rakitic and Sergi Roberto can also fill in.