Well yeah I agree. I'm along for the ride but not really invested as such. It does seem like it would be too good to be true.
Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap
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Well yeah I agree. I'm along for the ride but not really invested as such. It does seem like it would be too good to be true.
I have a horrible feeling we’re going to be taken for a ride here. We’ll be after him all summer with Barca dangling the carrot only for them to get their funds sorted and for FdJ to make a U-turn and mentioning he wanted to stay all along. This needs to be resolved one way or another ASAP.
They're voting on their tv funding on the 16th June so I'd say we'll know by around then either way.
I think United will have a drop dead date to make the deal, and if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. You don't want to be strung out all summer long chasing a deal, then not get it over the finish line and you are then unable to get your secondary targets. That would be a disaster.
I think Woodward would be taken for a ride here--- but I think ETH is smart enough to move on if the deal can't be concluded by a certain date.
Yeah. Sancho i was convinced would come. Thiago in 2013 I was convinced for a while too. I just feel like he's too talented and with his age, too young still for them to decide to move him on and him to give up on Barca. Next summer I could see it. This summer seems too early for De Jong.
I don't agree there at all. If he moves it'll be down to finances. We don't know how much this deal is worth but reports are it could be worth 750m and if they sort their finances he won't be moving.
I don't agree. Frenkie is better than Busquets, also defenisvely. Frenkie is underrated defensively. He is quite fast and his tackling is good as well. He's no Kante or Makelele of course, but he is good in ball recovering. He is not the tallest, but he's quite good in timing aerial duals. I'd say the only thing Busquets has over De Jong is pure physical strenght, but that's about the only thing.
Barcelona just has not been able to say goodbye to Busquets yet. He's the last guy standing, along with Alba, of the golden generation. They don't want to say goodbye to that and Xavi doesn't want to pull the trigger on his old teammate. It's clear if you have to choose between Busquets and De Jong you should choose De Jong any day of the week. The mistake is that De Jong is pushed to another role in order to leave room for Busquets in the team, but in this other role De Jong is just not going to be as impactful and he's going to be much more inconsistant and that's what we've seen at Barcelona.
As other have mentioned in the past few pages of this thread, De Jong is one of (probably the) best press resistant players there is. He's so comfortable on the ball and almost impossible to press. That's why he also usualliy flourishes in big games, because the better teams are more likely to press. However in the games against the smaller teams he's going to be less effective as those teams are less likely to play pressing. He'll just keep the ball in the team and needs others to do the creative part in the attacking end of the pitch because that's not his quality. However as he's mentioned himself today after the match; he needs to be the first player to get the ball in build up, because then he can control the game and the pace of the game. That's what's not happening in Barcelona and happens much more often in the Netherlands team as well as back at Ajax.
Busquets moves the ball quicker, which helps in some games and less in others. Better at passing between the lines too. He was incredible in his prime. Better than Rodri and Fabinho now I think, even though they're better off the ball defensively than he ever was.
I hope we sign him. Class player
Mctominay would fracture 80% of his body trying those turns, passes or driving forward like that
Can he play with Fred ? How does that two as a pairing would work out ? Who would be further, who would be where on the pitch ? how would it fare against the midfields of premier league ? Assuming we only sign one midfielder. Does ten hag play 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 then ? Or can he play with vdb in a double pivot or in a three ?
He done more in those highlights than McT has ever done in his career 
Get him signed and that's 1 less thing to worry about.
Get him signed and that's 1 less thing to worry about.
Oh i know what you mean that finances are the driving matter in this, but I feel like teams like Barca will almost always "find a way" if they truly want to keep him as part of their project. They could just... Not sign one of the many players they are linked with. I think they are ok with moving him on because they view Pedri and Gavi as the future, which De Jong doesn't fit with.
Feck it just pay up and sign him.
we've got to get numerous players this window and Barca are in massive financial trouble, we can still get him and make sure it's for a good price.
We are willing to pay up. The problem is that Frenkie may not be so keen on joining us. That's our biggest hurdle at the moment.
Nope. Barcelona need the money. Gotta get a good price.
That’s great until someone comes in and pays it
That would be the opposite of a U-turn, he's consistently been saying Barcelona is his dream club and that he wants to stay. He's made it quite clear what he wants.
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Damn tities.. he's so good. At a ripe age of 25, too.
That's really an impressive performance... no doubt he would improve our midfield alot.
But question being, he doesn't seem to be interested in joining us...
Fortunately for us, not only are they skint, Xavi is too loyal to his ol' mate Busquets.
The fact that people are really impressed by that performance - which wasn't even one of his better ones for Holland - and think that McTominay or Donny can provide what he would shows you how unfamiliar our fanbase is with him. If he joins, they're going to get a very nice surprise!
Absolute class. Don't have a single player here doing this. Pay the money it takes to sign him.
There are posters who said McT can offer what De Jong does? I find it very hard to believe.
One of our resident Ajax lads bookmarked it for future reference.Never seen anyone claim that. Especially not McTom
Would love to read those posts, one player is always on the move and want to be the player to receive the pass in defensive third, other player barely moves off the ball and makes forward runs without offering much in the build up play.
If you don't mind, PM me the poster name. I will search for post
good move by him to put on a display in this game. On the one hand it brings up questions for barca if sales could be made elsewhere and keep his talent. On the other side, puts him on display for UCL clubs that might be on the fence about a pricey purchase.
Wonder if we start to hear about "competition for De Jong transfer" after this game.
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That's actually wrong theybmostly tend to play him as an 8. Busquets is the 6.
For all the muppetry in here, you guys aren't even jumping on the golden quotes.
That last tweet should have generated 10 pages by itself!
Don't they want Gavi and Pedri through the middle long term? I think that's why they'd prefer a like for like replacement for Busquets rather than have someone like Frenkie who also needs another midfielder that can sit back.
He is a like for like Busquets replacement and does not need another midfielder to sit back.
Yesterday he played with Berghuis and Klanssen ahead both attacking minded, and in that Ajax team his partner was Schone another attacking minded Player...so its a myth he needs a defensive player next to him.
For all the muppetry in here, you guys aren't even jumping on the golden quotes.
That last tweet should have generated 10 pages by itself!
Just thinking that myself, gone from not sayin anything but respectful things about barca, to now practically saying he prefers playing for his country and in a diff system....
ETH has got to him.....
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