Barça removes De Jong from first captaincy

BarcelonaBarça has confirmed through its coach, Hansi Flick, that Frenkie de Jong will not be the first captain of the Blaugrana team. At least in the short term. This decision, according to the German coach, is "provisional" and is part of a context in which the Dutch midfielder is seriously injured in the knee and the squad is still subject to further changes until the transfer market closes on September 1st at 11:59 PM. The sporting management is working on different operations, both incoming and outgoing. Once the deadline passes, the plan is for the players to vote for the five captains this season.

Until then, Flick has revealed that Raphinha will be the first captain of Barça along with Eric Garcia, who is taking on this role for the first time, and Pedri González, who already held it during the past season. "Frenkie de Jong is not available right now and I have provisionally decided on the captains until we hold the vote, because the squad is not finalized," the coach stated in declarations to the club's media. To avoid suspicion, Flick has made it clear that his relationship with De Jong is very good. "He is a very professional player; I always talk to him about things happening around the team, also about the next match. He is very important because he has enormous quality and can contribute a lot to us," he emphasized.

Despite this justification from Flick, the decision is surprising. Firstly, because the fact that a footballer is injured does not exempt him from addressing the fans at the Gamper presentation. In fact, a year ago, Ter Stegen, also immersed in a tense situation (he was even stripped of the captaincy for not signing a four-month absence), finally backed down and kept the first armband. He also gave the speech despite being injured. Similarly, De Jong, by seniority, is by far the footballer who has been at Barça the longest in the current squad. His signing dates from 2019 and this year he begins his eighth season at the club. Raphinha, who is now moving up to first captain, will just be starting his fifth term.

If De Jong has surgery, it's better for Barça

With De Jong, as ARA explained a few days ago, there is bad blood due to his refusal to undergo surgery to heal a complete tear of the internal lateral ligament of his right knee. For now, the footballer prefers to try conservative treatment before accepting an intervention that, administratively, would help Barça resolve the registration of signings before the market closes. This is because if the club presents a layoff of more than four months, it could automatically use 80% of De Jong's salary space, who earns about 18 million gross per year, to register another player. This is the regulation that was used to register Joan Garcia last summer (thanks to an injury to Ter Stegen) and Dani Olmo (thanks to an injury to Andreas Christensen) two years ago.

Amidst all this, De Jong himself came out to make statements to defend his professionalism and point to "bad luck" as the reason for his injury during the World Cup. "I'm very upset. What I like most is playing football, especially for Barça and for the national team. So when I'm injured, it really bothers me. But now they are publishing many things that are false and I'm noticing that this is damaging my image and affecting how some people think about me," stated the Dutchman, referring to information that suggests he withdrew from important matches with Barça thinking about his participation in the World Cup.