It’s not De Jong that has changed, it’s Barca

Four years have passed since Barça announced one of the most celebrated signings of the last decade. Frenkie de Jong arrived as the savior of the team's style and this summer he was close to leaving with the label of not having fit into the positional game. The outcome pointed to one thing, the story of a confusion and an unfortunate comparison: Sergio Busquets.

The former sportsman and journalist Martí Perarnau explained it to this newspaper: “It was believed that De Jong left from one context and arrived to another identical one and that there would be no adaptation problem and this has not been the case. With De Jong there has been a lot of confusion about Ajax's game. It has been believed that it was the same type of game as Barça and it is not, in any way. They would tell you that, except in the Van Gaal era, Ajax has hardly played using positional play. They have played another type of game that has movement as its central axis."

Movement was always Frenkie's engine. In Ten Hag's Ajax he started from the base of the play, but moved freely throughout the field. It was a display of deployment that included kilometers racked up, constant changes of position and a team that was constantly looking for him. Very different from the midfielder's style book at Barça: first touch play and positional control. The club in recent years has been obsessed with cloning Busquets in a player who is nothing alike. And in this process De Jong has suffered, having to adapt to a position, the interior role, which has played against him because it did not allow him to see the game in front of him or participate as much as he likes.

During all this time there has been an inconsistent De Jong, with few peaks of performance, who has never stopped being the Ajax footballer. It has not been until now that we have seen the most recognizable version of him, as if he had reached a tacit agreement with Xavi. As if the coach had finally understood that he does not have to look to De Jong for Busquets' solutions.

That is clear in the last two games. Especially at La Ceramica, where he was able to drive with the ball, leave his position and constantly participate in the game. The change has not been made by Frenkie, but by Barça, finally creating the context he needs. Against Villarreal, with the formula of four midfielders, Kessie's role allowed De Jong to be freed. The Dutchman took advantage of it, going from transferable to essential without giving up being himself.