De Jong is out of breath.

De Jong in a Barcelona shirt.

Not long ago, Barcelona's midfield was almost entirely composed of De Jong and Pedri. This pair was once considered the brains behind Hansi Flick's style of play. Pedri maintained his influence, and even when absent, Barca immediately revealed gaps in their game. But with De Jong, things are changing.

In the Champions League match against Frankfurt, the Dutch midfielder continued to start on the bench and was only brought on in the 66th minute. Flick expected De Jong to bring balance and rhythm to the midfield. However, what he showed was still his familiar safe style of play: less risky, simple passing, prioritizing maintaining the tempo rather than creating breakthroughs.

Statistics show that De Jong loses possession less often than Pedri on average, about 6 times per game, but this is largely because he plays in less risky areas and rarely makes decisive passes.

In this context, Flick is experimenting and gradually developing alternative options. The defensive midfield pairing of Eric Garcia and Pedri is being favored, having appeared in matches against Betis and Atletico, and continuing to be trusted against Eintracht. Against Alaves, Flick surprised everyone by using Marc Casado alongside Bernal. And in the match against Athletic Club, Eric Garcia played alongside Dani Olmo. These experiments suggest that De Jong no longer holds a central position in the tactical plan.

In terms of playing time, the decline is even more pronounced. De Jong hasn't played a full 30 minutes in the last two matches and has missed three of the last four La Liga rounds. He missed the Atletico match due to a fever, missed the Alaves game due to family matters, and didn't play in the Athletic Club game due to a suspension.

However, what surprised observers was that right before this break, De Jong played almost continuously. He played the full 90 minutes against Celta Vigo, Elche, Real Madrid, Girona, and Real Sociedad, as well as 88 minutes against Sevilla. In the Champions League, he also played the full time against Club Brugge and Chelsea.

So far this season, De Jong has played 17 matches in all competitions, accumulating 1,265 minutes of playing time. However, his contribution has been rather modest: no goals and only 2 assists. Notably, the Dutch midfielder has yet to score for Barcelona in the Champions League. In the context of increasingly fierce competition, De Jong's place at Camp Nou is clearly no longer a given.

Source: https://znews.vn/de-jong-hut-hoi-post1610742.html