At 3:00 a.m. Beijing time on May 4, the second leg of the 2021-22 Champions League semi-finals, Villarreal vs Liverpool. After the service, the "dark horse tour" of the yellow submarine should come to an end.
After the 2003-04 Season Porto and Monaco met in the Champions League final, there was no dark horse to reach the Champions League final.
The real black is Ajax in the 2018-19 season, although Ajax has won the Champions League (4 times) second only to Real Madrid, AC Milan, Bayern, Liverpool and Barca, and the last time they won the title was in 1995. But after all, they have been away from the Champions League for many years, but they have eliminated Real Madrid and Juve in succession to reach the semi-finals, and the semi-finals won 1:0 away to Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg and lost 2:3 at home in the second leg.
At that time, Ajax had a lot of good players in the squad, the best two were concentrated in the middle, midfielder Frankie De Jong, and central defender De Ligt. De Ligt is seen as a top centre-back like Van Dijk, and Frankie De Jong is seen as the "new Sneijder". Centre-forward, midfielder, front-back, back-back, centre-back, Frankie De Jong can eat it all.
In the summer window of 2019, Barca, which is already financially stretched, still imported Frankie De Jong at a sky-high price of 86 million euros. After Xavi and Iniesta left, Barca lacked a master midfielder, apparently placing high hopes on Frankie De Jong.
But after two or three years, Frankie De Jong's performance at Barca can only be described as decent, the attendance rate is high, you can't see him make any big mistakes, but you can't see him make any great achievements, and Xavi, Iniesta, Sneijder is not comparable.
Frankie De Jong's uncles, Robben and Sneijder were also in La Liga, and after leaving La Liga, they played well and reached the level of the world's top stars.
Now, the same path is in front of Frankie De Jong.
Spanish media said that the rift between Barca and De Jong has become bigger and bigger. Barca feel de Jong did not perform as well at Barca than he did at Ajax. De Jong felt that he did not receive the attention he deserved at Barca.
De Jong is only 24 years old and is worth 70 million euros in the German transfer market.
Spanish media Outlets Cuatro revealed that Barca are willing to listen to offers for De Jong, as long as it is not less than 70 million euros.
Frankie De Jong is one of the most sought-after players in the transfer market, with Manchester United, Bayern, Paris Grande, Juve and Arsenal all interested.
It is worth mentioning that Barca intend to strengthen the front line this summer, buy Haaland is certainly not affordable, buy Levan is enough, Bayern's asking price is not less than 60 million euros. If Frankie De Jong is sold, there will definitely be more than enough to pay Levan's transfer fee.
In midfield, Barca are not short of people, veteran Busquets can also top a season or two, young people in Pedro, Garvey, Nico... The potential and prospects are not under De Jong.