Gullit’s progressive loss of faith in Frenkie

Frenkie de Jong is committed to the Dutch team in the days before the start of Euro 2024. The 27-year-old midfielder of FC Barcelona, ​​​​who is out for the last stage of the season suffering from an injury to his right ankle -ankle, said recently that he is “ready to take a chance for Holland in the Euro Cup”. In the environment of the ‘orange’ team, which is now far from the generation that in the 70s and 80s put Dutch football as a reference for world football, there are important voices that give their opinion in the current moment. One of those voices is Ruud Gulat, 61, who was a great midfielder for Milan’s best team and for the Dutch team that won the 1988 Euro Cup. In his final reflection, Gullit referred to De Jong , a player who, reviewing his opinions, loses faith year after year. In 2019, when the transfer of Frenkie from Ajax to Barça was completed in exchange for 75 million and 11 more in variables, Gullit saw in the midfielder, who was then 21 years old, a project of Zidane.

This was in May 2019. Speaking to Goal, Gullit gave him glowing praise. “De Jong is a free soul, a bit like Zidane,” he said. “He takes everything to the limit. He challenges you as a rival. He also makes it easy for the rest of the team to take positions because he doesn’t lose the ball too much and he likes it too. That’s why he’s a player. which is a bit like of Zidane, he also likes the ball, beating rivals and things like that,” he described. “I like the way he plays, although he is still very young. In just two years at Ajax, he has improved incredibly. Playing for Barcelona will be positive for him,” he predicted .

In January 2020, in a statement to ‘VoetbalPrimeur’, Gullit clearly disagreed with the general current opinion that existed in Barcelona about Frenkie’s positive initial performance. “There’s a lot of talk about how well Frenkie is playing for Barcelona and I have my doubts. I really think he can do better. He handles the ball from here to there, it’s nothing.” “He comes to get a ball, he fakes it. Then he hits left or right, nothing else happens. Actually I only say this because I know he can do better. Frenkie has to play better. He is the ideal son-in- law, everything is great, but so far I have not seen him,” he emphasized. His will, always according to his version, is to encourage the footballer to grow. “I want to give him confidence, because it’s nice to see him when he has the ball. But I look at the result. If the passes are horizontal, it’s useless. And there are times when it really looks like that,” he said.

In February 2020, Gullit intensified his message by losing a greater impact on his compatriot’s game: “Frenkie could be better,” he said at a Laureus Awards gala held in Berlin. “It’s not to be critical, it’s because I like him as a player. I think he can be more vertical, he ensures too much. He is a great player with great skills, but I would like him to play a little better. I he thinks he can and that’s why I’m saying this.” “, he said on the red carpet of the Laureus 2020 at the Verti Music Hall in Berlin.

For Gullit’s part, the level of criticism of Frenkie’s role has increased year by year. In September 2021, Gullit diagnosed being “overprotected” as a major problem in Frenkie’s development. “De Jong is a good player, but he is too protected. A year ago I was quite critical of Frenkie for his way of playing and I don’t want it to happen again. He came to Barça at a bad time, but I expect him to rebel and say: ‘We are Barcelona players and we want to succeed here’ I really expect the criticism I made of De Jong a year ago is because I think he is a fantastic player give more to give your best.

The flurry of insults reached its highest point on the eve of Euro 2024. Gullit did not spare the adjectives in

express his disappointment to De Jong. Speaking on the Rondo program, on Ziggo Sport TV, Gullit recalled stages of his own career to warn that he did not see the desire to develop in the Barça player. “I will say something about Frenkie. I started at Feyenoord playing as a right winger. Then Johan Cruyff told me: ‘Ruud, you have to improve the game of your teammates’. I didn’t understand him. But you know why he told me that because when you improve the game of your teammates, does Frenkie do that badly. Gullit remembered Frenkie’s role in the 2022 World Cup “If you look at Frenkie de Jong last time World Cup, he’s like a ghost! He needs to act on that,” he commented.

With 56 international matches under his belt and 2 goals, Frenkie did not fill the eye of Gullit, author of 217 goals in his career, 17 of them in 66 games with his national team.