Frenkie de Jong will not travel with Barcelona for their pre-season tour of the United States as he continues to battle an ankle injury, a report has revealed.
Ankle injuries were common last season for De Jong, who ultimately had to withdraw from the Dutch national team for Euro 2024 after failing to shake off an issue he picked up back in April.
Now, AS claim De Jong and Barcelona have mutually decided that travelling to the United States with the rest of the squad is not in the midfielder’s best interests and he will therefore remain at home with the rest of the squad’s injured players.
Pedri, Gavi, Ronald Araujo and Ansu Fati are all stuck on the sidelines alongside De Jong, who now faces a major race against time to recover before the start of the new La Liga season.
Barcelona have offered very few details on De Jong’s condition, but Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman has claimed the 27-year-old’s injury may be far worse than suggested publicly.
“Frenkie played big games when he wasn’t ready to play,” Koeman said as he blamed Barcelona for his fitness issues. “He didn’t have match rhythm or even the training sessions to play the games against PSG. On one hand, I understand it, because it was an important moment of the season for Barca, but in the end it’s not been good for Frenkie.
“Of course I speak with him, we know each other well, he’s worried about his injury. Before the Euros, we hoped he would be ok. We knew he wouldn’t make the first game, but we had hope, but it wasn’t to be.
“He has a significant injury and we have to wait and see how it goes. I wish him luck and a speedy recovery, but he is still not ready to play.”
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