Frenkie de Jong's Future at Barcelona in Question
Frenkie de Jong’s Barcelona future is back on the table. Again.
This time, the noise comes from the Netherlands, where Dutch journalist Valentijn Driessen has suggested the midfielder could be heading into his final season at the club. The timing is striking: De Jong is injured, and Barcelona have just brought in Rodri, one of the most complete midfielders in world football.
On De Telegraaf’s podcast, Driessen didn’t dance around the subject. “He has been injured a lot; they already tried to get rid of him before, and now they bring Rodri,” he said, pointing straight at the growing pressure around the Dutchman’s place in the squad.
Driessen doesn’t expect Barcelona to try to move De Jong on while he is sidelined. “I don’t think that now that he’s injured they’re trying to transfer him – I can’t imagine it – but I do think he’s in his last season at Barça,” he added.
Rodri’s arrival shifts the landscape
Barcelona haven’t just added depth. They’ve added a reference point.
Rodri arrives as a ready-made anchor for Hansi Flick, a midfielder used to dictating games at the very highest level. The expectation is clear: the Spain international will sit at the heart of the new coach’s system.
That naturally drags De Jong’s status into question. He has long spoken of his wish to spend the rest of his career at Barcelona, but Driessen believes that dream is slipping out of reach.
“He wanted to stay at Barcelona until the end of his career, but that’s a privilege granted to very few players,” the journalist said. “He’s not the sort of player you’d think would remain a first-team regular at Barcelona until he’s 35. In short, he won’t see out the end of his career there.”
The key issue is not just Rodri’s arrival, but what it does to the balance of the midfield. Driessen openly doubts whether the two can coexist regularly in the same starting XI.
“You always have to perform to keep playing. If an excellent player comes in who plays in your position, I can’t imagine those two playing together,” he argued.
A tactical crossroads for De Jong
De Jong has built his career on control. Taking the ball from deep, gliding past pressure, stitching phases together. He is at his most natural when the game is in front of him and the tempo runs through his boots.
Sharing a midfield with Rodri would almost certainly demand something different.
Driessen believes the Dutchman would have to move higher up the pitch, take on more risk, and offer more end product if he wants to line up alongside the Spain international on a regular basis. And he is not convinced De Jong can reinvent himself to that extent.
“He might be able to try, but he needs to be more attacking, and that’s usually the point of criticism: that he lacks that. He’s never managed it,” Driessen said.
The question now falls to Hansi Flick. Barcelona’s midfield is packed with players who can interpret different roles, and the German coach will have to decide whether De Jong remains central to his plans or becomes one option among many.
There is no guarantee that Rodri’s signing automatically forces De Jong out of the XI once he returns from injury. But the comfort of untouchable status has gone. The competition just got real, and for the first time since he arrived in Catalonia, Frenkie de Jong may be playing not just for his place in the team, but for his future at the club.
