Frenkie de Jong Responds to False Claims by Journalist
Frenkie de Jong has stepped out of the treatment room and straight into a media storm, using a club interview to launch a fierce rebuttal of journalist Gerard Romero’s reporting.
The Barcelona midfielder, currently sidelined with a knee injury, did not hide his frustration as he directly named Romero and accused him of spreading “false” stories that have left him “angry and irritated”.
De Jong calls out “lies”
At the heart of De Jong’s anger is a claim that he refused to play for Barcelona in a Champions League match against Atletico last season – an allegation he flatly rejected.
“For example, Gerard Romero. He said, and he started all of this, that I refused to play against Atletico in the Champions League last year. That’s false. It’s false. It’s simply not true,” De Jong told the club’s media.
He stressed that the idea he would turn down a Champions League night in a Barcelona shirt goes against everything he feels about the club.
“As I said, my dream is to play for Barca, especially in important Champions League matches. Of course I want to play. I don’t understand how you can say that I refused to play. And obviously, if people get angry and if that’s the only information they have, I understand. That’s why I’m explaining.”
The Dutchman then widened his criticism, taking aim at a series of stories that have circulated around his situation.
“Then he said that my relationship with the coach is very bad, which is completely false. I have a very good relationship with the coach. I talk to him a lot. You can ask him about all of this. It’s completely false.
“They’ve also said that my relationship with the club is bad, which is also not true, because I talk a lot with people at the club, with the directors and so on. Then they said I’m being punished. That was Gerard Romero again, and I want to mention it because I think he’s already told more lies in the past.
“But I’m not going to let it slide anymore, because he needs to understand that if he puts things out that aren’t true, I’m going to call him out on it.”
Clearing the air before the comeback
De Jong admitted he felt the need to “get that anger off his chest” so he can turn the page and concentrate fully on his recovery. The midfielder is working to return as quickly as possible from his knee problem, determined to get back on the pitch – and, as he made clear, especially on those big Champions League nights he insists he never walked away from.
