Frenkie de Jong

[5ergio_Busquets]

How many truly world class players picked Liverpool over Barca/Real in the last few years?
Players who were a world class even before joining Liverpool?

One guy actually ran away from Klopp to EV's team.

Liverpoll certainly became much more attractive to players with Klopp than before him, that's the point.

 

[xXKonan]

If what is reported that we have been doing is true (making last ditch efforts to get De Jong), then it is a bit too late. What took them so long? What were they doing before?

At the same time, I agree that if we have matched PSG's offer and De Jong still wants to go to PSG then there is not much we can do. Best of luck in Paris.

Frankly I feel that if we dropped Rabiot and made FDJ a priority signing then things might be different.

But right now with us chasing Rabiot, even if we made the move earlier he would probably still be concerned.

 

[Joan]

We're guilty for not pursuing a player who's supposed to join his new club in the summer before 18th of January?

 

[Luftstalag14]

Frankly I feel that if we dropped Rabiot and made FDJ a priority signing then things might be different.

But right now with us chasing Rabiot, even if we made the move earlier he would probably still be concerned.

Yup, the whole thing is so poorly planned and chaotic. We assumed De Jong would have come to us, we reached an agreement with him but never bothered to talk to Ajax seriously. We bet on getting Rabiot for free and now have doubts about him too because of his demands and competition and we suddenly turned back to De Jong trying to make last ditch effort to get him. Of course it is too late.

I am really starting to question if Abidal is competent.

 

[Leo_Messi]

The joke of comparing Ligue with Serie A. Even a struggling Serie A is ahead of a Ligue 1 pumped up artificially by QSG and their corrupt gas money and monopoly of most Francophone talents coming out of Africa. Big deal. The nonsense you read from some of those QSG supporters and their French friends is amazing. That inferiority complex towards Italy is historic and the 2006 defeat did not help.

Serie A is LIGHTYEARS ahead of Ligue 1 historically, in terms of fanbase, football culture, tactics, managers, players, UEFA coefficient points (historically and even today), players past and present (no competition here either). Even the stadiums in Italy are larger on average and the league has more attendance despite the appalling state of most stadiums and the fact that almost all stadiums are owned by municipalities and the famous bureaucracy problems in Italy are not helping either.

France are ahead in terms of talent work (clearly nowadays) and the state of their stadiums which are newer and in a better state, also thanks to recently hosting the European Championship in 2016. France also has the huge advantage of being able to use tons of players with African origins. Usually from a demography that struggles socially and economically thus more people among them take up sports and in particular football which increases the chances of their success. Those are the only things. Here we are talking about the worst Serie A in ages, even though the league has been improving in recent years from the sorry state post-2006 (Calciopoli) and UEFA rankings show that.

Ligue is not as bad as claimed either. However the delusion of a few QSG fans on this forum is not helping foster a more fact-based discussion. Ligue 1 has the potential to improve and probably will improve but there will always be the historical aspect here lacking. For example take a look at history. Only Marseille and QSG have won any European trophies. QSG has won 1 UEFA Cup Winners Cup trophy (not a defunct tournament) and Marseille (in a very corrupt era that they too were punished for by being stripped of a championship and relegated if I recall) is the only French club in 63 years to have won a European Cup/CL. It would take FAR more than just QSG gas money to change this reality and the fact that the best French players will always look to play in Spain, Italy and England. Not to mention that football is just way bigger in Italy than it is in France. A mentality change would be needed as well.

BTW, it is great to talk about talent work in France but the reality is that this is a somewhat recent thing. For years (decades) France was nowhere to be seen on this front. Not that long ago (1980's and 1990's), Italy was the top dog and was spitting out one legendary player after the other and Italian youth teams are improving currently and some of the best in Europe so things are moving in the right direction. The appalling exit to Sweden was a much needed wakeup call for the FIGC.

Anyway back to the topic.

Looks like my suspicion was correct. This is not over yet but I am having second thoughts about de Jong if he is clearly not hooked on joining us. We need dedicated players.

 

[Luftstalag14]

We're guilty for not pursuing a player who's supposed to join his new club in the summer before 18th of January?

Knowing what competition there is out there, yes, we were too inactive and indecisive.

 

[Joan]

Knowing what competition there is out there, yes, we were too inactive and indecisive.

He is six months from joining another club. We showed our interest. Don't understand what we should've done. We (apparently) talked to the player AND contacted Ajax one transfer window before.

 

[Luftstalag14]

He is six months from joining another club. We showed our interest. Don't understand what we should've done. We (apparently) talked to the player AND contacted Ajax one transfer window before.

But we all knew that De Jong was not going to make the decision as to where he is going in June, he was going to make it this month. It is not like we can afford to wait til April or May to make a move.

I am not sure if we really submitted an offer to Ajax before, nobody seemed to have confirmed that.

 

[Devils]

Exciting summer now lies ahead.


The 'altenative options' will be exercised now just like they did when we lost out on Griezman last year.

 

[Givenchy]

if you weigh up the pros and cons, Frenkie joining PSG is a no brainer.

look at how Malcom (around the same age as Frenkie) is being treated by our wonderful Ernie. then look at Busi/Raki starting every game no matter how much they fuck up. Barto telling him 'fight for your place' who is this guy kidding? i won't be atall suprised if EV gets a new contract which will see more young players ditching us.

when considering to join a team, surely the players would look at that as a red flag


anyways, not that mad about this. if we both pitched our projects and he wanted PSG, fair enough. what would of driven me crazy is if we didn't atleast try

 

[messi2140]

if you weigh up the pros and cons, Frenkie joining PSG is a no brainer.

look at how Malcom (around the same age as Frenkie) is being treated by our wonderful Ernie. then look at Busi/Raki starting every game no matter how much they fuck up. Barto telling him 'fight for your place' who is this guy kidding? i won't be atall suprised if EV gets a new contract which will see more young players ditching us.

when considering to join a team, surely the players would look at that as a red flag

FdJ probably saw Levante's game 2 days ago and he was like : " So the only way to be a starter for Barca is to outperform this Brazillian guy thats bossing the midfield.... Hmm , Paris here I come".

 

[Givenchy]

FdJ probably saw Levante's game 2 days ago and he was like : " So the only way to be a starter for Barca is to outperform this Brazillian guy thats bossing the midfield.... Hmm , Paris here I come".

tbf, Arthur breaking through midfield is a testament to how good the guy already is. Frankie joining on a big transfer fee would be behind Rakitic, Rakitic clone, Busi, Arthur, Vidal in that order (gotta love EV)

 

[DonAK]

Strange how there's not a single photo of Bartomeu, Abidal, Segura, Planes or anyone else that supposedly traveled to Amsterdam

Especially when we've seen photos of Robert and others everytime they traveled somewhere to close a transfer from Brazil to Portugal.

When Maxwell has been photographed along with PSG executives when they've gone to Amsterdam, or when Txiki has traveled somewhere to close a transfer, Bayern executives in France to sign Tolisso and so on....
Apparently Tuchel talked with de Jong and is trying to convince him to join PSG. Perhaps Good Ol' Ernie should do the same.

 

[Leo_Messi]

if you weigh up the pros and cons, Frenkie joining PSG is a no brainer.

look at how Malcom (around the same age as Frenkie) is being treated by our wonderful Ernie. then look at Busi/Raki starting every game no matter how much they fuck up. Barto telling him 'fight for your place' who is this guy kidding? i won't be atall suprised if EV gets a new contract which will see more young players ditching us.

when considering to join a team, surely the players would look at that as a red flag


anyways, not that mad about this. if we both pitched our projects and he wanted PSG, fair enough. what would of driven me crazy is if we didn't atleast try

How so? When is it ever better to play for a much less prestigious club (not even the same galaxy) in a much, much inferior league (not even comparable as well) where you are likely to stagnate much like the bigger talent (IMO) Verratti did due to lack of challenges. QSG are not even better than we are in our current state or in recent years. QSG's CL record is even more appalling than ours in the past seasons. In fact we are only second to RM in the past 5 years that are spoken so much about due to RM winning it 4 times. Unlike RM we have totally dominated both domestic competitions (80%+ of our matches every season) in this time period. QSG is nowhere near here either.

Not to mention that de Jong will be a prisoner at QSG. It's a very shallow and idiotic move from him. Shows incredible lack of ambition.

Economically there won't be much of a difference if any as well so that argument does not work either.

Valverde is likely gone in the summer when he would join. At most he would play for him for only the next season. That's nothing. Not to mention that Rakitic and Busquets are on their last legs and will be faced out by Arthur and possibly de Jong should he arrive.

I cannot phantom how anyone (in their sane mind) can claim that QSG is the better choice.

When a club like Barça (or RM) are after you, you do not say no and take the challenge whatever is in front of you if you are really a generational talent. Mbappe would have joined either if not for being a local boy and 19 years old and only (at that time) being a 6 month wonder kid. So he wanted to play it safe at such a young age. QSG's oil money (offering more than RM) did help as well.

I am 100% sure that he will stagnate much like Verratti if he decides to rot in QSG and Verratti was the better talent.

 

[Givenchy]

How so? When is it ever better to play for a much less prestigious club (not even the same galaxy) in a much, much inferior league (not even comparable as well) where you are likely to stagnate much like the bigger talent (IMO) Verratti did due to lack of challenges. QSG are not even better than we are in our current state or in recent years. QSG's CL record is even more appalling than ours in the past seasons. In fact we are only second to RM in the past 5 years that are spoken so much about due to RM winning it 4 times. Unlike RM we have totally dominated both domestic competitions (80%+ of our matches every season) in this time period. QSG is nowhere near here either.

Not to mention that de Jong will be a prisoner at QSG. It's a very shallow and idiotic move from him. Shows incredible lack of ambition.

Economically there won't be much of a difference if any as well so that argument does not work either.

Valverde is likely gone in the summer when he would join. At most he would play for him for only the next season. That's nothing. Not to mention that Rakitic and Busquets are on their last legs and will be faced out by Arthur and possibly de Jong should he arrive.

I cannot phantom how anyone (in their sane mind) can claim that QSG is the better choice.

When a club like Barça (or RM) are after you, you do not say no and take the challenge whatever is in front of you if you are really a generational talent.

I am 100% sure that he will stagnate much like Verratti if he decides to rot in QSG and Verratti was the better talent.

the problem is, this next generation don't give a damn about prestige.. just look at Man City for example. its about money, trophies and usually a decent manager will seal the deal. Barca along with Madrid have had players at their whim but this is changing. i know the Neymar situation could be seen as an enigma but he left us for a less prestigious club and league near his prime and most youngsters now will have that same mindset. a football career is pretty short and earning more money>being a club legend will be the norm so it becomes more profitable for not only players but their agents also if they keep moving them around clubs. the PL will benefit the most from this once Messi and co retire leaving La liga with less popularity

we will see this summer but i don't think Madrid will get the galactico players they want/need like they used to and thats probably why Perez is buying young players

thats not to say i believe Jair and his Ligue 1 french generation taking over the world, the PL will always remain at the top but the sad thing is, la liga has already been dropped here in the UK