Football

Frenkie de Jong shows English football what it's missing in Nations League masterclass


Frenkie de Jong showed England what they’re missing.

Not the Premier League clubs who will look on this summer with jealously as the 22-year-old completes his £75million move from Ajax to Barcelona, ready to marshal the Catalans’ midfield for the next decade, but the Three Lions.

It’s not a new phenomenon. It’s something which is now all too familiar.

It’s been noted on numerous occasions down the years; Andrea Pirlo in 2012 and 2014 highlighted it to a particularly painful degree, Luka Modric similarly did so last summer and now, in another high-pressure encounter, De Jong did likewise.

Declan Rice, the man Gareth Southgate persuaded to join his Young Lions to become his midfield linchpin declared pre-match that he was looking forward to going up against De Jong, testing himself against a player who has, in recent months, dominated games against Juventus and Real Madrid.

De Jong shifts away from Rice

“You cannot give him [de Jong] too much respect on the pitch,” Rice said. “Because that’s when he starts to dictate the game.”

He’s not wrong. Alas, it’s easier said than done.

Rice has impressed at West Ham and played in the same role as De Jong in Guimaraes, sitting at the heart of a midfield three.

However, over the course of 120 minutes, they looked anything but contemporaries; rather Goddard’s pie and mash vs Ciel Bleu.

That’s not to denigrate Rice, who has proven himself a capable Premier League performer and, amid links with a big-money move, has the Hammers looking for the kind of money that has taken De Jong to Camp Nou.

Jamie Redknapp claimed pre-game that De Jong is “the best midfielder in the world right now.” That may be a little premature, but it’s not far off because the kid is truly elite.

De Jong skirts away from Rashford

And right now, as has been the case for so long, De Jong is a player England just don’t have.

A player with the arrogance in that central area that we still don’t possess and struggle to bring through.

Amid a chaotic first half where mistakes were plentiful and space was in short supply, De Jong always had time, always was in position to receive the ball and, always, knows where to play the effective pass.

Amongst the hustle and bustle, he was three or four moves ahead of the rest. For one so young, his reading of the game is remarkable.

De Jong nips in and dispossesses Raheem Sterling

Rice is a safe option, a player who rarely makes a misstep. In the opening 45 minutes, he had a 100 per cent pass completion ratio. De Jong is anything but safe.

Having broke through at Willem II, upon his move to Amsterdam Ajax coaches initially tried to coach out of him his favoured habit of picking up the ball deep and running between the lines, evading an opposing midfielder with smart footwork to open up the game ahead. Eventually, he persuaded them to let him be, that it was an ideal way to effect the game and break down defensive schemes.

But it’s not just with his running that he penetrates, doing so with his passing also; sideways and backwards is where opponents want you to go at the top level, but de Jong has already mastered being on the half turn, having the little look ahead as he prepares to receive, and playing directly through opponents.

De Jong faces his own goal, but has the situation in hand

He consistently asks questions of the man closest to him. Stand off, give him time, and he’ll play the forward pass that has you running towards your own goal. Get tight and he’ll pop a little pass round the corner, spin and get it back – still leaving you running back towards your own goal.

That makes the fact that he completed 100 passes during his 112 minutes with a pass accuracy of 96 per cent absolutely phenomenal. Very rarely does he do anything that you would deem ‘ineffective’, such as the nothing passes that, as extra-time ticked down, and tired bodies were paired with tired minds, became a staple of England’s midfield and ultimately led to the Three Lions downfall.

Nor does he go missing when he’s on the field.

Ask yourself, were he wearing the white of England in the 97th minute, would John Stones have turned once, twice and thrice before being dispossessed? No, because de Jong would have given him the option to play the five yard forward pass into midfield he so desperately wanted to play; that pass may well have been going through Stones’ mind when he forced one into Ross Barkley soon after and England were punished again.

De Jong turned the Estadio D. Afonso Henriques into his own personal playground, just like he has done the Bernabeu, Allianz Stadium and Spurs’ new stadium.

This was another midfield masterclass from one of world football’s coming forces, an individual display from an Oranje wizard that leaves English football looking inwards once more.

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