Frenkie de Jong

[God Serena]

What will we do with our midfield if he comes? Alena, Samper, Busquets, Rafinha, Rakitic, Vidal, potentially Riqui, Denis, Arthur, and Coutinho aren't going to be able to fit in the same midfield, even if half of them ride the bench most of the time.

 

[soul24rage]

I suspect for next summer we will sell Denis, let go of Samper for free, loan Alena to a La Liga team and sell/loan Rafinha. Puig could replace Denis's place.

Next season, we could potentially have a midfield of:
Busi, Rakitic, Vidal, Coutinho, Arthur, De Jong. Puig can continue his development in the B team.

The thing is that De Jong price of 70 million will really hinder us for getting a striker, which I think is a more pressing issue.

 

[Gnidrologist]

+1 I’ve only watched YouTube highlights but he looks unreal.. can’t remember the last midfielder like him. I’d go for it when Real are spending 45 on 18 year olds.. risk vs reward. But then again I’m not too fussed about our finances I just want the best for the squad.

He looks even better watching live. He was the sole purpose average Netherlands side could hold their own against France in the recent match and not just park the buss whole 90 minutes. Think his best role in our currently stacked midfield will be rotating with Busq, who is clearly declining and will soon have to be replaced. Coutinho, De Jong, Arthur mid would be my hopeful optimal main trio in coming years.

 

[khaled_a_d]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_association_football_transfers
This is a list of most expensive players in history
There are only 3 players that cost more than 50M from outside the top 5 leagues (EPL/Liga/Calcio/Bundesliga/Ligue 1)
Those players were Neymar/Fred/Hulk with Alex Teixeira being borderline 50M. Only Fred and Neymar were sold to European clubs.
Neymar were a generational talent and had a huge marketing value.
This is the prices of players outside the top 5 leagues, 70M or 80M or even 50M aren't a normal prices in todays market when you are buying from Dutch league

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_football_transfer_record
Davinson Sanchez holds the record for highest sold player withh 42M, while next to him Depay 34M and both were overpriced IMHO.

We need many reinforcement next year, with CB and Striker should be a priority and back up LB and new RB might turn out to be important too, we have just signed 2 midfielders and FDJ is a player who played very low number of games in midifield in his career and will be signed as non-proven 22 years old player from Dutch league. I would hesitate breaking the bank for him tbh. If Ajax will sell for 30-40M range then go for it, otherwise no.

 

[DonAK]

He'll play in the CL this season. Great performances there won't mean he's unproven. Same goes for De Ligt.

What will we do with our midfield if he comes? Alena, Samper, Busquets, Rafinha, Rakitic, Vidal, potentially Riqui, Denis, Arthur, and Coutinho aren't going to be able to fit in the same midfield, even if half of them ride the bench most of the time.

Samper, Rafinha, Denis won't be here next season. Vidal is a short-term signing and will be gone by 2020. Rakitic might be moved by 2020/2021 too considering his age.

Riqui won't get promoted next season. If Barca B are promoted they'll want him to play a season in Segunda first.

 

[Xaviniesta]

what a talent

 

[Joan]

You're abusing the 'modern market' argument here. It's not a norm. 80 mil is enormous money.

 

[vlad]

Pretty much the next Modric, but physically stronger.

So arthur is next xavi and this guy is next modric

And barca can have both, wow

 

[Raketa10]

What will we do with our midfield if he comes? Alena, Samper, Busquets, Rafinha, Rakitic, Vidal, potentially Riqui, Denis, Arthur, and Coutinho aren't going to be able to fit in the same midfield, even if half of them ride the bench most of the time.

Samper, Denis and Rafinha will be gone and maybe even Vidal if he doesn't fit in. Raki and Busi are over 30 so I really don’t see any problem here not to mention than Riqui and Alena first need to prove they can play for A team.

I like Alena but bare in mind that De Jong is only 7 months older and he is playing for Dutch national team and he will also play CL football this season. If Alena doesn’t speed up his developement they wont be able to fit in the same sentence next summer. We should also take into consideration that De Jong is DM player while Alena and Puig are more CM/AM players.

 

[messi2140]

He plays at Ajax as a CM but he filled that role as a DM against France very well too.

 

[Raketa10]

He plays at Ajax as a CM but he filled that role as a DM against France very well too.

He can play both but IMHO he excels as a DM player. What impressed me was the fact that he played only his second game for NT against France and he established himself as the main figure in their midfield. He also did that against world champions and not against some mid level team.

 

[khaled_a_d]

He'll play in the CL this season. Great performances there won't mean he's unproven. Same goes for De Ligt.



Samper, Rafinha, Denis won't be here next season. Vidal is a short-term signing and will be gone by 2020. Rakitic might be moved by 2020/2021 too considering his age.

Riqui won't get promoted next season. If Barca B are promoted they'll want him to play a season in Segunda first.

You are misusing the short and longterm arguments
We have Alena/Oriol/Arthur/Puig for long term, and for the time being they are all unproven player just as FDJ.
Next year at least Raki/Vidal/Busquets/Arthur/Coutinho will be here, and likely one of Alena/Puig too.
So both long and short term there is no huge hole in midfield that warrant paying huge sum for unproven -even if he does well in couple o CL games- player like Jong.
And we have even bigger needs in other positions

 

[Raketa10]

You are misusing the short and longterm arguments
We have Alena/Oriol/Arthur/Puig for long term, and for the time being they are all unproven player just as FDJ.
Next year at least Raki/Vidal/Busquets/Arthur/Coutinho will be here, and likely one of Alena/Puig too.
So both long and short term there is no huge hole in midfield that warrant paying huge sum for unproven -even if he does well in couple o CL games- player like Jong.
And we have even bigger needs in other positions

So you are comparing Oriol, Puig and Alena to De Jong? Al 3 of them are currently playing third division football while De Jong is playing CL and NT football. Be serious!

 

[DonAK]

You are misusing the short and longterm arguments
We have Alena/Oriol/Arthur/Puig for long term, and for the time being they are all unproven player just as FDJ.
Next year at least Raki/Vidal/Busquets/Arthur/Coutinho will be here, and likely one of Alena/Puig too.
So both long and short term there is no huge hole in midfield that warrant paying huge sum for unproven -even if he does well in couple o CL games- player like Jong.
And we have even bigger needs in other positions

Personally I believe de Ligt is a bigger need right now, but if de Jong proves to be the kind of talent he's touted and hyped to be, and proves it in the CL by taking Ajax forward then I would be willing to pay big money for him. Better spending 70m on a player like that if he proves himself to be that huge of a talent, than spending 30 millions on other players that are inferior.

Don't see why RB would be a big need as many people claim Roberto is one of the best RBs in the World and Semedo is an okay backup. I don't know(think) if you said that, but you said he was in the La Liga Team of the Season and is good enough so keep going with him.

CB, Striker, MF if a big talent/opportunity presents itself.

 

[Andresito]

As I see it, the transfer targets for next summer are already clear: De Ligt, De Jong and a striker.

It will be expensive, so let's hope Suárez proves that he has can be a starter 2019/2020 aswell.