Barcelona boss Flick explains Frenkie de Jong being benched | OneFootball

Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick has provided an insight into the reasoning behind Frenkie de Jong’s recent lack of minutes.

Midfielder De Jong has for his part played a minimal role for Barcelona over recent weeks.

A bout of illness explained his initial absence, but across the Blaugrana’s last two fixtures, Eric García has been favoured to the Dutchman at the base of midfield.

Long considered one of the first names on the team sheet of boss Hansi Flick, this development has come as something of a surprise.

Speaking to the media in his latest pre-match press conference on Friday, the subject of De Jong’s loss of prominence was therefore put to Flick himself.

And Barca’s headmaster went on to justify as much in explaining:

“Frenkie was sick and missed two matches, that’s why he didn’t play. He needs to recover, and his absence is understandable after what happened to him.”

Conor Laird – GSFN