Official: Barcelona heavyweight withdraws from national team due to fitness issue | OneFootball

FC Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong has left the Netherlands national team camp due to a minor fitness problem, it has been confirmed.

“Frenkie de Jong has left the Oranje training camp. The midfielder is not fit enough after the Poland game to play in the World Cup qualifier against Lithuania,” the statement from the Dutch national team read.

The 28-year-old midfielder was part of Ronald Koeman’s squad for the Oranje’s FIFA World Cup qualifying fixtures against Poland and Lithuania.

In fact, De Jong started and played close to 80 minutes for the Dutch national team last night against Poland, with the game ending in a 1-1 draw.

However, as confirmed by Koeman after the game, the midfielder was taken off due to some discomfort in his glutes.

“Frenkie warned us that he felt tightness in his glutes, so we didn’t take any risks,” the manager said.

Now, it has been decided that the midfielder is not fit enough to play against Lithuania on Sunday, and as such has been released by the national team.

De Jong had already missed one game for Barcelona this season – sitting out the trip to Levante due to the birth of his second child.

Now, it remains to be seen if he is fit enough to feature against Valencia next week when Barcelona return to action after the international break.