International boss confirms Barcelona star ‘may have to train individually’ | OneFootball

Dutch national team boss Ronald Koeman has on Tuesday provided an update on the wellbeing of Barcelona star Frenkie de Jong.

Midfielder De Jong for his part set alarm bells ringing in Catalunya’s capital once more this past weekend.

As much came after the 27-year-old was forced into a premature departure from Barcelona’s La Liga defeat at the hands of Real Sociedad.

After twice going to ground in discomfort during the first-half, the former Ajax man was ultimately hooked from proceedings at the interval.

De Jong was nevertheless given the green light to link up with his compatriots in the Netherlands squad on Monday, albeit with his overall fitness level having remained unclear.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, the subject of as much was in turn put to the aforementioned Ronald Koeman.

And, in his response, the former Barcelona tactician went on to admit that though De Jong may be forced to train individually over the days ahead, ‘we assume that he can play’ on Saturday against Hungary:

“I got in touch with Barcelona pretty quickly about De Jong’s ankle. Then it became clear that it wasn’t about his ankle. It was already stated somewhere that it was about his shin, so it wasn’t a problem then either.”

“We assume that De Jong can play on Saturday. But it is possible that he will have to train individually tomorrow, we’ll see. He’s been out for a long time and hasn’t played a whole match yet. He’s not at his best yet. But it’s so important for us that he’s here.”

Conor Laird – GSFN