It was in April that Frenkie de Jong last played a professional football match. During El Clasico, he suffered a serious injury to his ankle, and despite expectations being that he’d return within 4-5 weeks, he has now been absent for almost five months.
There’s no doubt that de Jong has been missed by Barcelona, who only have Pedri, Marc Casado and Eric Garcia as options to play in defensive midfield. The Dutchman will be another in the very near future, as he made his long-awaited returning to group training on Tuesday.
De Jong has been training individually over the last week or two, and despite concerns from within Barcelona of aggravating the injury that he had on his ankle, he has had no issues so far. Hansi Flick and his coaching staff will be absolutely delighted to see him back, and they’ll also hope that he can be back in action sooner rather than later.