Frenkie de Jong leaves Euros, Ronald Koeman blames Barcelona for ‘taking risks’ with him

Ronald Koeman, the coach of the Netherlands national team, has blamed Barcelona for an injury that will prevent Frenkie de Jong from participating in the upcoming European Championships.

The Netherlands faced a major setback just before the start of the Euros, as de Jong was ruled out due to an injury he sustained on March 3 while playing against Athletic Club at San Mames.

Initially, it was expected that he would need at least six weeks to recover. However, he made a return to action earlier than anticipated on April 10, playing in the Champions League match against PSG.

Despite all this, Koeman included de Jong in the Netherlands’ 26-player squad for the Euros in Germany, hoping he would be fit enough to participate in the tournament.

Unfortunately, the Netherlands later announced in a brief statement that de Jong had not recovered in time and would not be able to play in the competition.

Koeman frustrated with Barcelona

Frenkie de Jong was upset for missing out on Euros 2024.

This development led to Koeman expressing his frustration with Barcelona, accusing the club of rushing de Jong back into play too soon in April, which he believes worsened the player’s condition.

“We came to a conclusion that even in the next 3 weeks, De Jong will not be fully ready. He has a history with this injury,” said Koeman as quoted by Mundo Deportivo.

His club took risks before and now we have to pay the price. I know that he played while he was not 100% ready,” he added.

It is to be noted that a\de Jong played 75 minutes in the first leg of the match in Paris and just a week later, he played for 82 minutes in a game at Montjuïc, where he appeared visibly fatigued.

His season came to an abrupt end during the Clasico match against Real Madrid when he collided with Federico Valverde just before halftime.