Eric Abidal served as the sporting director at FC Barcelona between June 2018 and August 2020. The ex-French professional footballer played a key role in bringing a number of players to the club and served during the presidency of the much-criticized Josep Maria Bartomeu.
One of the players who signed for Barcelona during Abidal’s time is Frenkie de Jong. The 27-year-old Dutchman signed for the Spanish club for a fee of around £65m from Ajax and arrived at the club in the summer of 2019.
The hype surrounding De Jong when he signed for Barcelona was immense. He was rightfully touted as one of the biggest talents in football at that time and the Catalan club had to fight off significant competition to bring him to the club.
Frenkie has been at the club since but has often divided opinions on whether he has truly realized his potential. The Dutchman has just returned to football action after a long injury lay-off and was surprised by the rousing ovation he got from the fans upon his return.
Abidal has delved deeper into the time he convinced Frenkie to sign for Barcelona. The Frenchman initially shared what De Jong had told him. As quoted by SPORT, he revealed:
“He told me, ‘Look, I haven’t spoken with Barça’s coach. That’s why I’ve decided to go to PSG, because I’ve talked to Tuchel.’“
The ex-sporting director then went on to explain what he told the €70m-rated midfield to change his mind. He continued:
“And I simply said to him, ‘At Barça, it’s the institution that signs you, not the coach. And secondly, with the total transfer fee, you’ll be an undisputed starter.'”
Back during Ernesto Valverde’s time, there was this concept of undisputed starters that plagued Barcelona. The Spanish coach had a set of players who he never dropped, irrespective of the performances and it comes as no surprise that Abidal made this statement to Frenkie de Jong.
As much as some fans might not want to accept it, Frenkie de Jong has been a very good signing for Barcelona. There is this feeling that sometimes, too much is expected of him but looking at it objectively, he has contributed immensely.
Now that De Jong is back, he could come into his own in Hansi Flick’s team, just like many other stars in the squad have in recent months. The 27-year-old’s future will also need to be sorted in the near future, considering his contract ends in 2026, and let’s wait and see how it goes.
