The international break has given FC Barcelona a lot of problems in the past. Beyond just the fact that it takes players away from the club and puts an abrupt stop to whatever their recent progress has been, it has also delivered some unwanted injuries in the past. For this reason, these breaks are often worrying for Barcelona.
Unfortunately for the club, while most of their players who went for this ongoing international break were fully fit, a certain team captain has traveled for it without necessarily being at full fitness. That player is none other than Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong, and he has already started a game for the Netherlands.
After the game, the Barcelona star even provided an update on his fitness and confessed that he was not yet at his best level. However, another former Dutch midfielder seems to believe that the player should not even stay back with the Netherlands team beyond this game.
As highlighted by Mundo Deportivo, former Ajax and Real Madrid player Rafael van der Vaart recently claimed that he would have told De Jong to ‘go back home’ to Barcelona, despite labeling the 27-year-old player as a ‘fantastic’ player:
“He played a great game, although he can and should be even better. That makes sense. He has achieved many things, but now he needs to stay fit. He’s a fantastic player from whom we will benefit greatly. If it were up to me, I’d tell him to go back home. He doesn’t need more trips. He must be cautious with that ankle. It’s quite dangerous—it gets into your head and causes discomfort.”
Against Hungary in the previous outing, the Dutchman was rather solid for Ronald Koeman’s team. However, it was clear to see that he was not performing at his best possible level and there was a certain level of hesitancy in his game that prevented him from reaching his best version.
However, these problems with his ankle have been a consistent hindrance for De Jong in recent times. In fact, they prevented him from even featuring on the international stage for a long time before he finally ended up receiving the most recent call-up by Koeman.
