21 - Frenkie de Jong

Riordon said:

Good article. Also sad we missed out on Naby Keita for just 50m. Naby Keita and Frenkie de Jong are always looking for a line breaking move, either pass or drible.

We can't miss out on De Jong. These midfielders are rare.

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Raketa10 said:

He is a player for the future, Valverde won't be here for the next 10 years.

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As he lays tired midfields to waste, as he stirs oppositions into a blind panic, you’re overcome with a single, piercing thought: nothing will ever be the same again. I have glimpsed the next hundred years of football, and before long the sport as we know it will divide neatly into two ages: before Frenkie de Jong, and after.

I’m sorry.

I just can’t do this.

I can’t lie to you any longer.

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I’m coming clean: I’ve never actually seen Frenkie de Jong play.

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And for a country undergoing perhaps its gravest footballing slump for half a century, de Jong offers fresh hope: an old-style sweeper with the poise and balance of Gullit, the vision and intelligence of Rijkaard, the pace and directness of Robben.

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As it happens, I’m less concerned about the actual footballing merits of de Jong, and more what he represents: what his tale says about a game so preternaturally sensitive to novelty and desperate to anoint the next big thing that a player who looks even vaguely different will be feted with the enthusiasm of a second coming. Or, put more simply: exactly when is the appropriate time to get excited about a player?

A generation or two ago, it was a simpler question to answer. The first time you saw a player was the first time you saw them.

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Perhaps it’s time to admit that nobody ever really watches a player “clean” any more. From the very first moment they pass before our eyes - and sometimes, even earlier - our judgement has already been refracted through the judgements of others, all the words that have been written about them, all the fire emojis we have seen alongside their name, the addictive impulse in all of us to be able to say we saw him first. By the time a player like de Jong emerges into the light, they have long since been stripped of their right to a blank slate. The first time we watch de Jong over 90 minutes, we’ll already be watching him through a preconceived lens of the hype machine, to say nothing of snarky weekend columns commenting archly on the hype machine while also sharing in its lustre. Guilty as charged, by the way.

And yet. Strip all this away for a moment, load up all the requisite caveats, acknowledge the manifold limitations of the short-form video, and the feelings are still real. The excitement is still real. How is it possible to get this animated about a player you’ve never seen? I don’t know, but all the same, it is. Perhaps the real joy of football is that it allows us to imagine the world not as it is, but as it might be. I’m aware that Frenkie de Jong may not be all he’s cracked up to be. I’m aware that a four-minute video is no basis for rational judgement. I’m aware that half the world’s ills stem from people seeing things that aren’t there, asserting things they can’t possibly know for sure. But god, I still want to believe.

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Joan Laporta said:

[tw]1040869156072161281[/tw]

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Raketa10 said:

How did he do against AEK?

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laplacian said:

imagine being so shit in depth you have to use a midfielder as a cb. Seriously though, the guys instincts force him to drive up the ball and pass the ball forward. I've changed my mind, the other user's correct about him, using him as a defensive midfielder is a waste of his talents.

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Raketa10 said:

Why would playing him as a DM be a waste of his talents? That's maybe the best position for him. Using him as a CB is a waste of his talents though.

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