Official: Barcelona star departs national team duty | OneFootball

A leading member of the midfield ranks at La Liga giants Barcelona has been forced into a premature departure from international duty.

The player in question? Frenkie de Jong.

Midfielder De Jong set alarm bells sounding in Barcelona earlier this week.

As much came after Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman confirmed that the former Ajax man had been hauled off early in the country’s meeting with Poland owing to a fitness complaint.

“Frenkie warned us that he felt tightness in his glutes, so we didn’t take any risks,” ex-Barca boss Koeman explained.

And as alluded to above, this problem has since proven enough to rule De Jong out of the Netherlands’ next outing.

As per a statement across the nation’s social media platforms late on Friday:

‘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. Take care, Frenkie!’

Conor Laird – GSFN