National team boss confirms Barcelona star ‘won’t play 90 minutes twice’ | OneFootball

Dutch national team head coach Ronald Koeman has on Friday provided an insight into his plans for Frenkie de Jong in the country’s upcoming fixtures.

After a lengthy absence, midfielder De Jong has for his part linked back up with his compatriots for the November international break.

The fact remains, though, that the 27-year-old has managed just two starts across the season to date.

Not only that, but De Jong was forced into a premature departure from Barcelona’s most recent outing, hooked at half-time in the Blaugrana’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of Real Sociedad.

Speaking to the media on Friday, it therefore came as little surprise when the subject of his plans for FdJ over the week ahead was put to the aforementioned Ronald Koeman.

This comes as the Netherlands prepare for a pair of Nations League fixtures, against Hungary and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

And, in his response, the ex-Blaugrana tactician went on to confirm that he won’t take risks with De Jong:

“Frenkie won’t play 90 mins in both the games. I don’t know if he will play full the 90 minutes in one game, either. I know that he talked about this with Hansi Flick, but we have a game on Saturday and after that we will see.”

Conor Laird – GSFN