Frenkie de Jong, Koeman's Philosopher's Stone

Frenkie de Jong has played it all with Koeman. Well, to tell the truth, not all, because he was substituted in the 80th minute of the game against Getafe (1-0) on October 17, when Koeman in an offensive outburst placed all the heavy artillery in attack, sacrificing a good part from the midfield. Those ten minutes are the only ones that De Jong has not been on the field, in the rest, 890, he has participated actively. In fact, he is the player in the squad with the most minutes at the start of the season, ahead even of the franchise player, Leo Messi (855) and the central defender, Gerard Piqué (788).

In addition, he is the only footballer who has started in all of Koeman's games, although not always playing in the midfield as a double pivot: he left central, accompanying Piqué, in the Champions League game against Dinamo Kiev (2-1 ). A position that had already played 45 minutes against Alavés (1-1) after the replacement of Lenglet.

In any case, De Jong himself quickly made it clear that he does not feel comfortable in the center-back position – his game against Dinamo was certainly very deficient in all aspects- and that he hoped to regain his natural position as soon as possible, as was the case for the next game, against Betis (5-2), where he deployed all his resources as a powerful and versatile midfielder.

De Jong, who plays a friendly against Spain tonight, still lacks a dose of confidence to finish becoming the midfielder who amazed the entire planet two years ago at Ajax. He has played great games with Barça, but without the regularity necessary to make the final leap. Now, since Koeman's arrival on the bench, he has become the cornerstone of the Dutch coach's project, as the numbers reflect. And the thing is that at 23 years old, nobody plays more than him in this Barça.