Who in his position would you rank above him? You can term him as a 6, 8, DM, whatever you want.
Rodri
Bernardo Silva if you wanna call him a midfielder
Camavinga
Barella
Bellingham when he plays there, even if I am not a big fan he's done far more in recent years than de Jong and is 6 years younger too
Mac Allister
Valverde if you wanna class him as one
Mainoo even in potential (and I think he's a bit overrated)
Odegaard if included as an 8
At your own club, Pedri (when fit)
Joao Neves in future
Palhinha
Rice (even though I think he's generally a bit overrated)
Xhaka based on PERFORMANCE, not hype
Guimaraes
Like I say, not all hyped like De Jong, but generally better week to week, and a fair amount of them don't live in the hospital.
And probably numerous other players I have either forgotten, overlooked, am not aware of. And that doesn't include 15 year old prodigies coming through soon who will eclipse him.
Cue the laughter from the fanboy.