There is a smile on the face of Frenkie de Jong as he recalls the advice Ronald Koeman first gave him on joining Barcelona two summers ago: stay out of the restaurants and don’t eat too much. Having successfully followed that guidance, the 23-year-old will now have plenty more time to learn from his former Netherlands coach, who returned to Barcelona in August. Here De Jong looks ahead to the new campaign, discusses life so far under the new coach and explains his game.
Life in Barcelona's really comfortable. The climate is really good, better than in Holland. We have the beach, we have the mountains, people are nice to me. So I'm enjoying living in Barcelona a lot.
The thing I miss most about Holland is my family. I like my family and friends close to me. I think that is the most difficult thing when you're moving to another country, because the country itself, and Barcelona as a city, is amazing. It's more that family and friends are further away from you.
FC Barcelona are really popular in Holland because, of course, a lot of Dutch players have played for Barcelona. And Johan Cruyff was the greatest Dutch player of all time, played here and had a big influence on the club.
It's always difficult to tell whether I learned this, or this, or this. You're just developing in general as a person as well as a footballer, because if you're training and playing at the level we have at Barcelona, and the opponents we’re playing, you're getting better as a player. I think that’s normal. But it has been a difficult year for us because we didn't win any trophies and there have been a lot of changes at the club.
He was really positive about Barcelona as a club as well as a city. What he told me was almost all positive. He just told me that I have to be careful, that I [shouldn’t] go to restaurants too much or eat too much, because life is really good in Barcelona and sometimes you can feel like you're on vacation the whole year. He said: “Be careful with that and for the rest, everything is really good.”
Yeah, of course, because it's funny when he's saying you have to be careful because the food is really good; [be careful] that you're not going out too much, that you're not eating too much in restaurants. You need to enjoy life but not too much, you know, because at the end of the day, football is the main part.
It depends on what the coach wants you to do, because you can play it in different ways. The way I played it before was to set up the play for the attackers, and to give them the ball in good positions so they can make the difference for the team.
Yeah. I want to receive the ball early and to set up the play a bit. That is more my style than waiting for the ball and receiving it up front, and touching the ball less. I like to touch the ball a lot of times during the game to set up plays, to combine with players. I think I feel more comfortable in the pivot position, but I can also play high up front. It doesn’t matter for me so much but, if I had to choose, I would rather play as a double pivot than, for example, as a mediapunta [attacking midfielder].
I think the communication between the coach and me is really good. He tells me exactly what he demands from me in this position, and everything is really clear.
He has this natural authority. When he’s talking, you are listening to him because he this power – I don’t know how to explain it – and, of course, he has a lot of knowledge about football because he understands the game and has been a great player before. If he tries to teach you something, you listen.
No. When you have Messi you have the best player in the world in your team, so you try to get him into the best positions to make a difference. Of course we need to adapt to him, but when he is receiving the ball in a position where he can make the difference, he will make it for you, always.
We have a signed Frenkie de Jong ball and shirt to give away. Visit our competitions page to find out more.
There is a smile on the face of Frenkie de Jong as he recalls the advice Ronald Koeman first gave him on joining Barcelona two summers ago: stay out of the restaurants and don’t eat too much. Having successfully followed that guidance, the 23-year-old will now have plenty more time to learn from his former Netherlands coach, who returned to Barcelona in August. Here De Jong looks ahead to the new campaign, discusses life so far under the new coach and explains his game.
Life in Barcelona's really comfortable. The climate is really good, better than in Holland. We have the beach, we have the mountains, people are nice to me. So I'm enjoying living in Barcelona a lot.
The thing I miss most about Holland is my family. I like my family and friends close to me. I think that is the most difficult thing when you're moving to another country, because the country itself, and Barcelona as a city, is amazing. It's more that family and friends are further away from you.
FC Barcelona are really popular in Holland because, of course, a lot of Dutch players have played for Barcelona. And Johan Cruyff was the greatest Dutch player of all time, played here and had a big influence on the club.
It's always difficult to tell whether I learned this, or this, or this. You're just developing in general as a person as well as a footballer, because if you're training and playing at the level we have at Barcelona, and the opponents we’re playing, you're getting better as a player. I think that’s normal. But it has been a difficult year for us because we didn't win any trophies and there have been a lot of changes at the club.
He was really positive about Barcelona as a club as well as a city. What he told me was almost all positive. He just told me that I have to be careful, that I [shouldn’t] go to restaurants too much or eat too much, because life is really good in Barcelona and sometimes you can feel like you're on vacation the whole year. He said: “Be careful with that and for the rest, everything is really good.”
Yeah, of course, because it's funny when he's saying you have to be careful because the food is really good; [be careful] that you're not going out too much, that you're not eating too much in restaurants. You need to enjoy life but not too much, you know, because at the end of the day, football is the main part.
It depends on what the coach wants you to do, because you can play it in different ways. The way I played it before was to set up the play for the attackers, and to give them the ball in good positions so they can make the difference for the team.
Yeah. I want to receive the ball early and to set up the play a bit. That is more my style than waiting for the ball and receiving it up front, and touching the ball less. I like to touch the ball a lot of times during the game to set up plays, to combine with players. I think I feel more comfortable in the pivot position, but I can also play high up front. It doesn’t matter for me so much but, if I had to choose, I would rather play as a double pivot than, for example, as a mediapunta [attacking midfielder].
I think the communication between the coach and me is really good. He tells me exactly what he demands from me in this position, and everything is really clear.
He has this natural authority. When he’s talking, you are listening to him because he this power – I don’t know how to explain it – and, of course, he has a lot of knowledge about football because he understands the game and has been a great player before. If he tries to teach you something, you listen.
No. When you have Messi you have the best player in the world in your team, so you try to get him into the best positions to make a difference. Of course we need to adapt to him, but when he is receiving the ball in a position where he can make the difference, he will make it for you, always.
We have a signed Frenkie de Jong ball and shirt to give away. Visit our competitions page to find out more.
There is a smile on the face of Frenkie de Jong as he recalls the advice Ronald Koeman first gave him on joining Barcelona two summers ago: stay out of the restaurants and don’t eat too much. Having successfully followed that guidance, the 23-year-old will now have plenty more time to learn from his former Netherlands coach, who returned to Barcelona in August. Here De Jong looks ahead to the new campaign, discusses life so far under the new coach and explains his game.
Life in Barcelona's really comfortable. The climate is really good, better than in Holland. We have the beach, we have the mountains, people are nice to me. So I'm enjoying living in Barcelona a lot.
The thing I miss most about Holland is my family. I like my family and friends close to me. I think that is the most difficult thing when you're moving to another country, because the country itself, and Barcelona as a city, is amazing. It's more that family and friends are further away from you.
FC Barcelona are really popular in Holland because, of course, a lot of Dutch players have played for Barcelona. And Johan Cruyff was the greatest Dutch player of all time, played here and had a big influence on the club.
It's always difficult to tell whether I learned this, or this, or this. You're just developing in general as a person as well as a footballer, because if you're training and playing at the level we have at Barcelona, and the opponents we’re playing, you're getting better as a player. I think that’s normal. But it has been a difficult year for us because we didn't win any trophies and there have been a lot of changes at the club.
He was really positive about Barcelona as a club as well as a city. What he told me was almost all positive. He just told me that I have to be careful, that I [shouldn’t] go to restaurants too much or eat too much, because life is really good in Barcelona and sometimes you can feel like you're on vacation the whole year. He said: “Be careful with that and for the rest, everything is really good.”
Yeah, of course, because it's funny when he's saying you have to be careful because the food is really good; [be careful] that you're not going out too much, that you're not eating too much in restaurants. You need to enjoy life but not too much, you know, because at the end of the day, football is the main part.
It depends on what the coach wants you to do, because you can play it in different ways. The way I played it before was to set up the play for the attackers, and to give them the ball in good positions so they can make the difference for the team.
Yeah. I want to receive the ball early and to set up the play a bit. That is more my style than waiting for the ball and receiving it up front, and touching the ball less. I like to touch the ball a lot of times during the game to set up plays, to combine with players. I think I feel more comfortable in the pivot position, but I can also play high up front. It doesn’t matter for me so much but, if I had to choose, I would rather play as a double pivot than, for example, as a mediapunta [attacking midfielder].
I think the communication between the coach and me is really good. He tells me exactly what he demands from me in this position, and everything is really clear.
He has this natural authority. When he’s talking, you are listening to him because he this power – I don’t know how to explain it – and, of course, he has a lot of knowledge about football because he understands the game and has been a great player before. If he tries to teach you something, you listen.
No. When you have Messi you have the best player in the world in your team, so you try to get him into the best positions to make a difference. Of course we need to adapt to him, but when he is receiving the ball in a position where he can make the difference, he will make it for you, always.
We have a signed Frenkie de Jong ball and shirt to give away. Visit our competitions page to find out more.
There is a smile on the face of Frenkie de Jong as he recalls the advice Ronald Koeman first gave him on joining Barcelona two summers ago: stay out of the restaurants and don’t eat too much. Having successfully followed that guidance, the 23-year-old will now have plenty more time to learn from his former Netherlands coach, who returned to Barcelona in August. Here De Jong looks ahead to the new campaign, discusses life so far under the new coach and explains his game.
Life in Barcelona's really comfortable. The climate is really good, better than in Holland. We have the beach, we have the mountains, people are nice to me. So I'm enjoying living in Barcelona a lot.
The thing I miss most about Holland is my family. I like my family and friends close to me. I think that is the most difficult thing when you're moving to another country, because the country itself, and Barcelona as a city, is amazing. It's more that family and friends are further away from you.
FC Barcelona are really popular in Holland because, of course, a lot of Dutch players have played for Barcelona. And Johan Cruyff was the greatest Dutch player of all time, played here and had a big influence on the club.
It's always difficult to tell whether I learned this, or this, or this. You're just developing in general as a person as well as a footballer, because if you're training and playing at the level we have at Barcelona, and the opponents we’re playing, you're getting better as a player. I think that’s normal. But it has been a difficult year for us because we didn't win any trophies and there have been a lot of changes at the club.
He was really positive about Barcelona as a club as well as a city. What he told me was almost all positive. He just told me that I have to be careful, that I [shouldn’t] go to restaurants too much or eat too much, because life is really good in Barcelona and sometimes you can feel like you're on vacation the whole year. He said: “Be careful with that and for the rest, everything is really good.”
Yeah, of course, because it's funny when he's saying you have to be careful because the food is really good; [be careful] that you're not going out too much, that you're not eating too much in restaurants. You need to enjoy life but not too much, you know, because at the end of the day, football is the main part.
It depends on what the coach wants you to do, because you can play it in different ways. The way I played it before was to set up the play for the attackers, and to give them the ball in good positions so they can make the difference for the team.
Yeah. I want to receive the ball early and to set up the play a bit. That is more my style than waiting for the ball and receiving it up front, and touching the ball less. I like to touch the ball a lot of times during the game to set up plays, to combine with players. I think I feel more comfortable in the pivot position, but I can also play high up front. It doesn’t matter for me so much but, if I had to choose, I would rather play as a double pivot than, for example, as a mediapunta [attacking midfielder].
I think the communication between the coach and me is really good. He tells me exactly what he demands from me in this position, and everything is really clear.
He has this natural authority. When he’s talking, you are listening to him because he this power – I don’t know how to explain it – and, of course, he has a lot of knowledge about football because he understands the game and has been a great player before. If he tries to teach you something, you listen.
No. When you have Messi you have the best player in the world in your team, so you try to get him into the best positions to make a difference. Of course we need to adapt to him, but when he is receiving the ball in a position where he can make the difference, he will make it for you, always.
We have a signed Frenkie de Jong ball and shirt to give away. Visit our competitions page to find out more.
There is a smile on the face of Frenkie de Jong as he recalls the advice Ronald Koeman first gave him on joining Barcelona two summers ago: stay out of the restaurants and don’t eat too much. Having successfully followed that guidance, the 23-year-old will now have plenty more time to learn from his former Netherlands coach, who returned to Barcelona in August. Here De Jong looks ahead to the new campaign, discusses life so far under the new coach and explains his game.
Life in Barcelona's really comfortable. The climate is really good, better than in Holland. We have the beach, we have the mountains, people are nice to me. So I'm enjoying living in Barcelona a lot.
The thing I miss most about Holland is my family. I like my family and friends close to me. I think that is the most difficult thing when you're moving to another country, because the country itself, and Barcelona as a city, is amazing. It's more that family and friends are further away from you.
FC Barcelona are really popular in Holland because, of course, a lot of Dutch players have played for Barcelona. And Johan Cruyff was the greatest Dutch player of all time, played here and had a big influence on the club.
It's always difficult to tell whether I learned this, or this, or this. You're just developing in general as a person as well as a footballer, because if you're training and playing at the level we have at Barcelona, and the opponents we’re playing, you're getting better as a player. I think that’s normal. But it has been a difficult year for us because we didn't win any trophies and there have been a lot of changes at the club.
He was really positive about Barcelona as a club as well as a city. What he told me was almost all positive. He just told me that I have to be careful, that I [shouldn’t] go to restaurants too much or eat too much, because life is really good in Barcelona and sometimes you can feel like you're on vacation the whole year. He said: “Be careful with that and for the rest, everything is really good.”
Yeah, of course, because it's funny when he's saying you have to be careful because the food is really good; [be careful] that you're not going out too much, that you're not eating too much in restaurants. You need to enjoy life but not too much, you know, because at the end of the day, football is the main part.
It depends on what the coach wants you to do, because you can play it in different ways. The way I played it before was to set up the play for the attackers, and to give them the ball in good positions so they can make the difference for the team.
Yeah. I want to receive the ball early and to set up the play a bit. That is more my style than waiting for the ball and receiving it up front, and touching the ball less. I like to touch the ball a lot of times during the game to set up plays, to combine with players. I think I feel more comfortable in the pivot position, but I can also play high up front. It doesn’t matter for me so much but, if I had to choose, I would rather play as a double pivot than, for example, as a mediapunta [attacking midfielder].
I think the communication between the coach and me is really good. He tells me exactly what he demands from me in this position, and everything is really clear.
He has this natural authority. When he’s talking, you are listening to him because he this power – I don’t know how to explain it – and, of course, he has a lot of knowledge about football because he understands the game and has been a great player before. If he tries to teach you something, you listen.
No. When you have Messi you have the best player in the world in your team, so you try to get him into the best positions to make a difference. Of course we need to adapt to him, but when he is receiving the ball in a position where he can make the difference, he will make it for you, always.
We have a signed Frenkie de Jong ball and shirt to give away. Visit our competitions page to find out more.
There is a smile on the face of Frenkie de Jong as he recalls the advice Ronald Koeman first gave him on joining Barcelona two summers ago: stay out of the restaurants and don’t eat too much. Having successfully followed that guidance, the 23-year-old will now have plenty more time to learn from his former Netherlands coach, who returned to Barcelona in August. Here De Jong looks ahead to the new campaign, discusses life so far under the new coach and explains his game.
Life in Barcelona's really comfortable. The climate is really good, better than in Holland. We have the beach, we have the mountains, people are nice to me. So I'm enjoying living in Barcelona a lot.
The thing I miss most about Holland is my family. I like my family and friends close to me. I think that is the most difficult thing when you're moving to another country, because the country itself, and Barcelona as a city, is amazing. It's more that family and friends are further away from you.
FC Barcelona are really popular in Holland because, of course, a lot of Dutch players have played for Barcelona. And Johan Cruyff was the greatest Dutch player of all time, played here and had a big influence on the club.
It's always difficult to tell whether I learned this, or this, or this. You're just developing in general as a person as well as a footballer, because if you're training and playing at the level we have at Barcelona, and the opponents we’re playing, you're getting better as a player. I think that’s normal. But it has been a difficult year for us because we didn't win any trophies and there have been a lot of changes at the club.
He was really positive about Barcelona as a club as well as a city. What he told me was almost all positive. He just told me that I have to be careful, that I [shouldn’t] go to restaurants too much or eat too much, because life is really good in Barcelona and sometimes you can feel like you're on vacation the whole year. He said: “Be careful with that and for the rest, everything is really good.”
Yeah, of course, because it's funny when he's saying you have to be careful because the food is really good; [be careful] that you're not going out too much, that you're not eating too much in restaurants. You need to enjoy life but not too much, you know, because at the end of the day, football is the main part.
It depends on what the coach wants you to do, because you can play it in different ways. The way I played it before was to set up the play for the attackers, and to give them the ball in good positions so they can make the difference for the team.
Yeah. I want to receive the ball early and to set up the play a bit. That is more my style than waiting for the ball and receiving it up front, and touching the ball less. I like to touch the ball a lot of times during the game to set up plays, to combine with players. I think I feel more comfortable in the pivot position, but I can also play high up front. It doesn’t matter for me so much but, if I had to choose, I would rather play as a double pivot than, for example, as a mediapunta [attacking midfielder].
I think the communication between the coach and me is really good. He tells me exactly what he demands from me in this position, and everything is really clear.
He has this natural authority. When he’s talking, you are listening to him because he this power – I don’t know how to explain it – and, of course, he has a lot of knowledge about football because he understands the game and has been a great player before. If he tries to teach you something, you listen.
No. When you have Messi you have the best player in the world in your team, so you try to get him into the best positions to make a difference. Of course we need to adapt to him, but when he is receiving the ball in a position where he can make the difference, he will make it for you, always.
We have a signed Frenkie de Jong ball and shirt to give away. Visit our competitions page to find out more.
