{"id":1091913,"date":"2019-06-03T10:59:57","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T09:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1091913"},"modified":"2019-06-03T10:59:57","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T09:59:57","slug":"frenkie-de-jong-barcelona-midfield-van-gaal-criticism-rakitic","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/frenkie-de-jong-barcelona-midfield-van-gaal-criticism-rakitic\/","title":{"rendered":"De Jong still expects a place in Barcelona’s midfield amid Van Gaal criticism & Rakitic’s vow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Frenkie de Jong is confident of becoming a regular starter for Barcelona despite strong competition and criticism of his transfer by Louis van Gaal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 22-year-old Dutch midfielder officially joins Bar\u00e7a on July 1st after signing for the Spanish champions earlier this year, subsequently ending a brief association with Dutch giants Ajax.<\/p>\n

De Jong’s Catalan adventure: Five key things to know\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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  1. De Jong becomes the 20th Dutchman to join Barcelona.<\/li>\n
  2. Johan Cruyff was the first in 1973, moving from Ajax to link-up with mentor Rinus Michels.<\/li>\n
  3. Ronald Koeman, De Jong’s national team boss, also wore the shirt.<\/li>\n
  4. Jasper Cillessen, the last Dutchman to join Bar\u00e7a before De Jong, is expected to leave the club this summer.<\/li>\n
  5. Lionel Messi was handed his Bar\u00e7a debut by Frank Rijkaard, one of the club’s four championship-winning Dutch managers.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    https:\/\/audioboom.com\/posts\/7273460-five-things-we-think-will-happen-in-the-2019-champions-league-final-and-in-the-europa-league<\/p>\n

    His rise to stardom, following a string of accomplished performances for the Amsterdammers, attracted the attention of a host of Europe’s super clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.<\/p>\n

    A tug-of-war for his signature ensued, with PSG confident they would get their man, but in the end, De Jong opted for Bar\u00e7a (who paid an initial \u00a365m) \u2013 a club he’s closely followed \u2013 due to a dream of playing alongside Lionel Messi.<\/p>\n

    He joins a club reeling following a tough end to the 2018\/19 campaign. Bar\u00e7a, for the second season running, threw away a three-goal first-leg lead in the Champions League semi-final. Despite winning a 24th Spanish championship, they failed to make it back-to-back doubles as Ernesto Valverde’s men fell to a 2-1 Copa del Rey final defeat at the hands of Valencia.<\/p>\n

    As things stand, Bar\u00e7a’s midfield is a tad congested with Sergio Busquets, Arthur, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal battling for a few spots. It’s been reported Rakitic would be leaving to make way for De Jong’s arrival, but the Croatia international has other ideas and when that was presented to the club’s latest recruit, he was cordial as well as bullish.<\/p>\n