Another Dutch legend weighs in on criticism of Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong | OneFootball

Former Dutch international Wesley Sneijder has on Friday provided his take on the recent criticism to have been aimed in the direction of compatriot Frenkie de Jong.

The name of midfielder De Jong, of course, took its place front and centre in the headlines across all of Europe earlier this week.

As much came after the Barcelona star was targeted in ruthless fashion by compatriot Ruud Gullit, during an appearance on Ziggo Sport TV:

“Frenkie does not improve his teammates. He plays poorly. He does not live up to the qualities he has. In the last World Cup he passed like a ghost.”

During his own television appearance on Friday, on De Oranjezomer, such comments were in turn put to another Dutch icon, in the form of the aforementioned Wesley Sneijder.

And the one-time Real Madrid standout, at first, went on to launch a defence of De Jong:

“You can’t expect Frenkie to pick up the ball from Virgil van Dijk, dribble past everyone all over the field and then shoot into the net or provide an assist, you just can’t expect that,” he began, as cited by Mundo Deportivo. “Sometimes we forget that in Holland Frenkie is more of a ‘6’ and a corrector, that he should be a connection player.”

Sneijder, though, did go on to highlight De Jong’s inconsistency as a concern:

“Frenkie hasn’t been consistent enough in recent years. He had a fantastic year at Ajax, which earned him a ‘very nice’ transfer. If you look at the last few seasons, Frenkie has also been injured very often and that devours you.”

Conor Laird | GSFN