‘It scared him’ – Injured Barcelona star still ‘far away’ from full fitness | OneFootball

Ronald Koeman, ex-Barcelona manager and current head coach of the Netherlands national team, has this week fired a warning the way of the Blaugrana.

This comes amid ongoing concern surrounding the wellbeing of Frenkie de Jong.

Midfielder De Jong for his part recently returned to the pitch for the first time since all the way back in April.

Having seemingly overcome a long-standing ankle injury, the former Ajax man was introduced off the bench in Barcelona’s final pre-international break outing, against Deportivo Alavés.

The understandable assumption, based off as much, was that De Jong had enjoyed a full recovery, now considered close to optimum fitness once more.

If the latest comments on the part of the aforementioned Ronald Koeman are anything to go by, however, then this is in fact far from the reality of the situation…

Speaking to the media on Thursday, the Dutch tactician spoke out on De Jong’s wellbeing, after the 27-year-old opted to sit out the October international break.

And Koeman admitted that, after a recent phone call, he was left with the impression that the midfield all-rounder remains ‘far away’ from full fitness:

“I spoke on the phone last week and, with all due respect, he is still too far away. He played a little and it already scared him. It was difficult for him.”

“Frenkie needs to find his rhythm and be 100% fit and I think he still has some left to do.”

Conor Laird – GSFN