De Jong disappears as Flick overlooks fit-again Barca star
Dutchman has not made it off the bench in the last two games
Frenkie de Jong made it clear he’s feeling good after his ankle injury and ready start games for Barcelona ahead of Saturday’s match with Atletico.
“The ankle injury was very hard and long, but I feel much better. If it depends on me, yes, I would say that I am ready to play 90 minutes,” he said before the game.
De Jong hadn’t featured at all in the shock loss against Leganes and was clearly hoping for a starting spot for such a key game.
Hansi Flick did makes changes to his team for the match but went with Gavi and Fermin Lopez instead, leaving De Jong on the bench once more.
But perhaps what was even more telling was the fact that Flick didn’t even bring the Dutchman on at Montjuic. Instead it was Eric Garcia who got the nod when Barca sought to freshen things up.
Flick was also quick to praise Gavi afterwards after seeing the midfielder put in his best performance since returning from a long injury layoff. The German’s fondness of Gavi is there for all to see, which likely spells more bad news for De Jong.
Of course it’s sometimes hard to know what’s really going on with De Jong at Barcelona due to the almost constant media speculation about his future and his contract situation.
Yet Flick’s recent selections do hint that he is some way down the pecking order right now, although he can probably expect to be in the XI next time out when Barca head to lowly Barbastro in the Copa del Rey.
Source: barcablaugranes.com
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