As part of an interview with the club’s website, one of Barcelona’s biggest stars this season revealed he nearly didn’t sign for the Blaugranas.
FC Barcelona has many players who recently came on a transfer but some of them nearly didn’t come to the club. As it goes through an institutional crisis, the Blaugrana need to hold on to their best players in any way possible. When Frenkie de Jong arrived at the club, he initially was closer to signing for a different institution instead of Barcelona. For Barcelona fans, it’s hard to imagine Frenkie de Jong saying no to their club after the constant flow of Dutch players playing for them since the ‘70s.
Having at least one footballer from the Netherlands in the squad has become a tradition for the club. But in recent years, Barcelona trusted way more on their academy players after the golden generation emerged from La Masia. However, all good things must come to an end. De Jong is part of this new project that goes back to signing expensive talents in order to succeed.
Frenkie nearly rejected Barcelona.
In a recent interview for the club’s website, De Jong made this startling revelation: “I asked Koeman and he told me positive things about Barça, the city and the people here. I wanted to sign for Barça, but at first I got the feeling that, whilst the club wanted me, they didn’t see me as a key player. That made me have doubts to start with, because I was playing for Ajax and we were in the Champions League. In the end, they convinced me -and it was the right choice.
“I feel good and I’m comfortable with the team. The coach gives me a lot of confidence, but I know that I still have to show my quality more. Even though it isn’t such an important part of my game, I’m scoring more goals now. When you score, it seems like everything is going better. Now I have to keep this good run going. I hope to continue growing and improving.”
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