According to the National newspaper, Manchester City plan to exchange Sterling+20 million euros for Barca midfielder De Jong in the winter window. If Harvey approves, de Jong will leave. Over the past few weeks, pro-Barca media have repeatedly challenged the Dutch midfielder, questioning his performance and contribution to the team. Perhaps De Jong will be the next "legacy of the former president" to leave the team, becoming Laporta's "big buy" chip.
Under Barca's current 433 system, due to the lack of forward capabilities, it is necessary for the midfielder to have more forward insertion and speed forward. Originally, this was De Jong's strength and where the team had high hopes. However, De Jong has a big problem, that is, his starting speed needs to expose a certain amount of space in the opposing defense, and then his passing efficiency is low, resulting in De Jong being "good-looking but not practical" many times.
It can be clearly seen from the GIF that De Jong's favorite thing is this kind of situation in which the opposing midfielder has an unreasonable position when switching between attack and defense. Through a very strong starting speed this step is used instantaneously into space. The problem is that De Jong's key pass to the core area is still a bit off. This time, if De Jong's pass can pass, Fati will have the opportunity to face the goalkeeper, but unfortunately it will not pass.
In addition, De Jong's own shooting efficiency is not high, especially after entering the box, he likes to "pass" his teammates, rather than choosing a more direct shot. This time, De Jong may have been determined to kill the top of the penalty area with a speed increase in the more scattered position of the Celta midfield. The choice to shoot with a left foot was somewhat surprising, but unfortunately the ball bounced off the crossbar. At that time, if De Jong had split the team-mates on the flanks, it would obviously have been a better chance. How to balance the transmission options will also be a problem for De Jong.
Judging from the direct goals and assists data, De Jong's efficiency is a little lower. In the first two years after joining Barca, La Liga improved from 2 goals and 2 assists to 3 goals and 4 assists, and the 2 assists this season also came from the combination of Bryce witt, Griezmann and Depay at the beginning of the season. So far in the Champions League, he has played 20 games, scored 0 goals and only 1 assist, which has become the reason for Barca's mouthpiece Daily Sport to criticize De Jong by name.
As a midfielder, on the one hand, you have to attack, and on the other hand, you have to defend. De Jong has a "good looking" side on the offensive end, but the goal and assist statistics have never gone up, making it difficult for him to really provide help in determining the outcome. On the defensive end, De Jong's data is not bad, but it often lacks a sense of responsibility, which can lead to many problems. Coupled with the emergence of Barca's 19-year-old youth midfielder Nico, de Jong looked a little embarrassed. Nico, who averaged 45 minutes per game, would be significantly better than De Jong if the data were converted to 90 minutes. Busquets, who has been criticized, still makes De Jong "out of reach" in both attack and defense.
Facing Dynamo Kiev's Champions League life-and-death battle, Barca will have to face the difficult task of winning at least 3-0 at home to Benfica if they can't win. De Jong's biggest problem in this game is not ability, but attitude. This time Busquets' pass was slow, but De Jong suddenly had a backward movement that caused a misunderstanding between the two. After the opponent broke the ball and counterattacked, De Jong's almost indifferent attitude was to watch the opponent get the opportunity. Even if it is not De Jong's direct responsibility for the break of the ball, it is unacceptable to be such a bad defender as a midfielder.
Looking at the offensive and defensive transition this time, Busquets was very undeserved by the break, but De Jong then watched the other side enter the Barca penalty area with an after-dinner walk attitude. When the Kiev player finished shooting, De Jong had even just returned to his mid-circle position.
In this Champions League life-and-death battle with Dynamo Kiev, De Jong's offensive data is all 0, the defensive end has 1 steal success and 1 pass, and the other data is still 0. Some would say that De Jong has just returned from injury and is not in good shape, but 3 days later against Celta, De Jong's physical condition is obviously not a problem.
Taking ten thousand steps back, if de Jong stays at Barca now, it will not be a bad thing for the team. Because he has a relatively balanced offensive and defensive ability, although he has many flaws, he is still a good young man. The problem is that Barca have a need for funds, and De Jong can get back a lot of transfer fees in the market. The emergence of 19-year-old La Masia midfielder Nico can largely replace De Jong's role. De Jong did well in the last league game, but he only shot at the crossbar, and his midfield partner Ribsquets scored goals and Nico assisted, all more eye-catching than him. In particular, Nico has tried 11 times and succeeded 8 times, and de Jong can do it, and the young man can also do it.
It's like this assist came from Nico passing the ball back near the bottom line, which even De Jong couldn't do.
So if City are willing to exchange Sterling for the "difference" of 20 million euros, this will be the result that Barca most want to see. On the one hand, De Jong's transfer will bring book benefits, but also get the speed points and scoring points that a team like Sterling desperately needs (if there is any doubt about Sterling's ability to score goals, look at the performance of the European Championship, as well as Sterling's goals and assists data over the past few years).
Because Barca not only promoted Nico as a substitute for De Jong, after releasing De Jong, Barca will also start to bring in a "foreign" midfielder (now with Pedri, Garvey and Nico 3 local newcomers, Barca will be difficult to arrange 2 non-Spanish players in the starting three midfielders in the future). Will Pogba, who is free next summer, be a testament to the long-standing friendship between Laporta and Laiola? It could really happen.
If Barca today are still the team with the goal of winning the treble, with multiple teams in the squad that can decide the winner or loser, then the highly ornamental De Jong has enough reasons to be retained and used. The current signing with Nike is not smooth, the sponsor may be changed, and barca, which is in urgent need of good players, wants to sell de Jong, who is "good-looking but not good-looking", and it has become an understandable decision.
#西媒: De Jong's future will be decided by Harvey ##Stirling #巴萨 #