Luuk gets on the train; Frenkie and Memphis start to get off

More than one owes an apology to Luuk de Jong, the forward who for months was meme meat and whom the club has wanted to put on the street. “We have to find a solution,” Mateu Alemany told Monch in early December.i, since Sevilla, the club of origin, has a voice and vote in the future of the player if there is a transfer to a third party. But knowing that Xavi did not love him and that the club was looking for a place for him, the former PSV player has made a place for himself in silence and with great merit. Tthree goals in their last three games (Mallorca, Granada and Real Madrid). In Riyadh, Luuk weighed less in the game, but he was where he was required while on the field.

His goals are not going to fall on deaf ears. Except for a major surprise, Luuk de Jong will continue until the end of the season because plans can also be changed and Xavi and Mateu Alemany have realized that he can be a good help, especially if Morata does not arrive, whose arrival seems increasingly difficult. De Jong, then, has jumped on the train with his sweat and a professionalism available to few footballers. And he has earned a useful gamer poster that many wanted to take away from him ahead of time.

Frenkie de Jong and Memphis cannot say the same. For them, he had reserved a relevant place on the team that his poor performance is causing them to lose. The midfielder played touched, but his lack of prominence, in relation to teammates like Gavi and Pedri, who rise above the matches, is surprising. De Jong came with the obligation to be the new leader of Barça’s midfield, but the matches engulf him and the noise of a transfer in the summer, especially seeing the list of midfielders that the team has, begins to gain strength as an opportunity to make a box to reinforce other posts.

Something similar happens with Memphis, who was more active than in Granada in a liaison position, but which was not as decisive as his compatriot and who will begin to have a difficult fit with the return of Ansu and the arrival of Ferran Torres. From Italy, the possibility that Morata enters the operation and ends up at Juventus has begun to sound strongly. Whether it happens or not, the player knows himself to be discussed and in a different setting than at the beginning of the season. It remains to be seen now if he will lower his arms or, as Luuk de Jong has done, work to turn around a situation that does not look good for him or Frenkie.