Ruud Gullit questions the way in which Frenkie de Jong is praised after a good game at Barcelona and/or the Dutch national team. The midfielder transferred from Ajax to Barcelona in the summer of 2018 for a maximum of 86 million euros and had a difficult first year in Spanish service. Despite the presence of Ronald Koeman, the second season at Barcelona was not always easy, although he did receive many compliments in the second half of the season when things went crescendo with the Catalans for a long time. However, Gullit believes that the bar is set much too low at De Jong and expects much more from the the Dutch international.
“I think Frenkie is a great player, but I just set the bar higher for him,” Gullit said on Sunday evening at Ziggo Sports. “I just don’t think it’s good enough for what he can do. I’ve seen matches that went really well. For example, when the Netherlands lagged behind Germany. Then it was great. I know you can’t play every game like this. But I do think that you can express the expectation that he has a number of assists, that he will score a goal. A little bit more.” Gullit does not always agree with the purely positive reviews that Dutch media publish after a Barcelona game. “I think he’s just too much praised. I think we set the bar way too low for him.”
“Why is he much praised? I do not know either. I also hear: ‘Frenkie this, Frenkie that’. But then I come to Spain and I ask journalists about Frenkie and they say: ‘Well, I don’t know’. At least I’m talking about last year. I’m not talking about now. But I want to raise the bar for him. In the matches that mattered, against Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid, I didn’t see him then,” emphasized the former footballer of AC Milan and Chelsea, among others. “I set the bar higher than most people because I like Frenkie more. expected. I just want that. Because I know he has.”
“Most people are already happy with what he is doing now and then I think: Yes sorry.” Presenter Wytse van der Goot noted that Gullit thus ranks the midfielder ‘at the top of the world’. Gullit: “Yes, but I want to see it.” Jan van Halst was also present on Saturday evening around the match between Athletic Club and Barcelona (1-1). “Frenkie got better and better as the game went on, but I understand what Ruud is saying.” Van der Goot mentioned De Jong’s statistics from last season: seven goals and eight assists. “I don’t think that’s enough,” emphasized Gullit. “For what he can.”
Frenkie was everywhere tonight pic.twitter.com/cN2vefcpLd
— Bart Frouws (@bartf) August 21, 2021
Gullit hopes that De Jong can leave his mark on the Barcelona team more now that Lionel Messi no longer plays for the Spanish top club. “But look at the European Championship. Also nothing. Do you understand. And that’s why I say, ‘If you’re as good as they say, I want to see it too. I want people in the Netherlands to be much more critical of De Jong in order to raise that bar. Otherwise you as a player are satisfied with what you are doing now.” Van Halst indicated that he would like to see De Jong play more backwards, more as a controller. “But he also did that when Sergio Busquets was injured and that didn’t work either,” Gullit countered. “And then I hear: ‘Yes, but Frenkie fills it in his way’. Yeah, what’s his way then? People always have a reason to explain why he doesn’t play well.”