‘Too much attention’… Marco van Basten not happy with the spotlight on €60m Barcelona player | OneFootball

FC Barcelona started this 2024-25 season with a particularly thin midfield, as several of their important midfielders were unavailable due to injuries. Two such players, Frenkie de Jong and Gavi had been recovering from their injuries from the last season, while other players like Fermin Lopez and Dani Olmo also remained on the sidelines for some weeks after suffering injuries this season.

Fortunately, all of these midfielders were able to recover and return to the field in the last month. After making some appearances with Barcelona, Frenkie de Jong was also able to return to the pitch with his Dutch national team after a break of 433 days as he started the game against Hungary.

The Netherlands got a 4-0 win in this game, which saw them qualify for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Nations League, but as Mundo Deportivo has reported, the Orange legend Marco van Basten was not happy with how Frenkie’s performance was put under the microscope in this match.

Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

Talking to NOS, the former Ajax and AC Milan forward said in this regard: “Too much attention is given to Frenkie. In the end, he’s the one who creates the play and the structure. He does it well, but we need to do it much more collectively.”

The former forward urged his colleagues to play their part in helping the €60m-rated midfielder when advancing the ball from the back:

“I think he has good vision with the ball, and that benefits the Dutch national team, but there are many other players who can also make those passes. He does a good job turning, but you can’t always blame him for that. If it’s three against one, the other two shouldn’t think, ‘He’ll figure it out.’ It has to be done together from the back.”

De Jong has already returned to Barcelona after being released early by Ronald Koeman and will not feature in the Netherlands’ upcoming fixture against Bosnia and Herzegovina because the Dutch have already progressed to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Nations League. Thus, it will be a good opportunity for Van Basten to see how Koeman’s midfield works without De Jong.