Sport newspaper warned FC Barcelona of the consequences of what it described as the dirty war they waged against one of the team’s most prominent stars last year and stressed that Deco, the new sporting director of the Blaugrana, has a difficult task of restoring bridges of friendship between the club and the player.
In October 2022, Frenkie de Jong extended his contract with Barcelona until 2026, which is one of the four contracts that Bartomeu renewed and which angered Joan Laporta after he took over the leadership of the club, so much so that he threatened to take those contracts to court to terminate them or reduce their salaries.
From here, a dirty war began, as described by Sport newspaper, against Frenkie de Jong and reached its climax in the summer of 2022 when the club asked the player to leave using methods that ignited the Dutchman’s anger, such as leaking the details of his contract and inviting him to leave publicly.
De Jong remained steadfast against this war and insisted on staying when his agents surrendered after Manchester United’s bid arrived. Now the player has proven that he was worthy of staying, turned the war into praise, and became an indispensable element for Xavi in the Barcelona formation, but the wound has not yet healed.
According to the Sport newspaper, De Jong and his agents are still suffering from that war, and it confirmed that the calm prevailing over the relationship between the two parties at the present time is disturbing. The player’s agents are seeking revenge against Barcelona, and every passing day increases their strength in this direction.
Therefore, Deco will have the difficult task of improving the relationship between Barcelona and the player on the one hand and his agents on the other. Barcelona did not ask the player to make any financial concessions again, which is a good gesture that may help restore harmony between all parties.
In addition, Sport believes that the departure of Matteo Alemany, who led the war against de Jong, will also contribute to facilitating Deco’s mission to build new bridges with the Dutch player and his agents.