Barcelona star Frenkie de Jong has today been targetted in ruthless fashion, by fellow countryman Rafael van der Vaart.
As much comes owing to his performance in Barcelona’s meeting with Napoli on Wednesday.
Xavi’s troops, of course, made the trip to Italy this week, for the first leg of the club’s Champions League Last-16 tie with Serie A champions Napoli.
The aformenetioned De Jong, meanwhile, was afforded his latest start in the middle of the park, alongside the trio of Pedri, Andreas Christensen, and İlkay Gündoğan.
Though the visitors were ultimately forced to settle for a draw, post-match, a number of their stars were praised, with the Blaugrana, for the most part, having dominated proceedings in Naples.
And De Jong was one such player widely considered to have enjoyed a solid evening’s work.
As alluded to above, though, one individual who evidently doesn’t share such an opinion, comes in the form of Rafael van der Vaart.
Speaking as part of his punditry role on Ziggo Sport (as cited by Mundo Deportivo), ex-Real Madrid star Van der Vaart did not hold back in his criticism of his compatriot, amid the suggestion that De Jong time and time again takes too much out of the ball:
“Frenkie de Jong plays football like a postman. He takes too long to pass the ball forward, instead, he keeps on running and taking it to his teammate.”
“Once you get away from your opponent, you have to keep the ball moving and pass the ball!”
Conor Laird | GSFN
