Valverde and Rakitic's family are the only people who think De Jong shouldn't start instead of the Croat.
I have no idea why are you guys mentioning Rakitic.
EV's pecking order in December:
1. Busi/Raki
3. Arthur
4. Vidal
Then Arthur lost form and EV's pecking order in the last 2-3 Months was:
1. Busi/Raki
3. Vidal
4. even Coutinho/Roberto in 442
5. Arthur
6. Alena
Since every coach has it's own pecking order, then if Raki won't be sold, it is quite predictable that we will start next season with:
Busi, Raki -Vidal/Frenkie/Arthur.
Imo, Frenkie is not fighting with Raki but with Vidal/Arthur.
You guys talk about Arthut-Frenkie, yet it is clear that EV doesn't rate Arthur lately (I would say: for a reason since he is the weakest out of our midfielders in: goals, assists, forward passes, defending, stamina).
Arthur matches in the last 3 Months, in matches when Messi played:
1. Valencia, 45 minutes and subbed
2. Eibar, didn't play
3. Getafe, didn't play
4. Liverpool 0:4, played from the 75th minute
5. Liverpool 3:0, didn't play
6. Levante, 73 minutes and subbed
7. Alaves, entered in the 87th minute
8. Sociedad, played 56 minutes and subbed
9. Man Utd 3:0, 75 minutes and subbed
10. Man Utd 1:0, 66 minutes and subbed
Now, for example, a comparison of matches when Messi played, in terms of Rakitic:
1. Valencia, 76 minutes and subbed
2. Eibar, 90 minutes
3. Getafe, 62 and subbed
4. Liverpool, 80 and subbed
5. Liverpool, 90 minutes
6. Levante, 90 minutes
7. Alaves, -
8. Sociedad, 90 minutes
9. Man Utd, 90 minutes
10. Man Utd, 90 minutes
** I am mentioning Messi's matches, because obviously, when Messi plays=that match is important.
When Messi is not playing and Barca is playing with Puig and Boateng, that is not an important match in EV's eyes.
So, when Messi plays=EV plays with 11 best players, more or less.
So, in the last 10 Messi's matches:
Raki was a starter in 9 matches
Busi was a starter in 8 matches
Vidal was a starter in 7 matches
Arthur was a starter in 5 matches
In the last 10 Messi's matches (April&May 2019):
Messi 794 minutes
Rakitic 758 minutes
Busi 746 minutes
Vidal 730 minutes
Arthur 363 minutes
Or even worse, in May 2019:
Messi 5 starts
Busi 5 starts
Rakitic 5 starts
Vidal 4 starts
Arthur 1 start
May 2019, Messi's matches:
Messi 450 minutes
Busi 425 minutes
Rakitic 398 minutes
Vidal 390 minutes
Alena 67 minutes
Arthur 60 minutes
From numbers, it is clear that Arthur has dropped a lot on EV's pecking order in the last 2 Months and especially in May.
So, in real world, what do we have:
1. EV rates Bsui, Raki and Vidal higher than Arthur
2. on stats, Busi, Raki, Vidal are better than Arthur in goals, assists, forward passes, defending
3. in the eyes of Barcaforum fans, pecking order of our midfielders: 1. Arthur, 2. Busi, 3. Vidal, 4. Raki
Expectations of Barcaforum for the next season:
Frenkie-Arthur duo
In real world:
Busi, Raki and either Vidal or Frenkie.