Frenkie de Jong Addresses Media Lies at Barcelona
Frenkie de Jong has broken cover at Barcelona – and he’s named names.
In a striking interview with the club’s own media channels, the Dutch midfielder launched a fierce attack on journalist Gerard Romero, accusing him of spreading “false” stories and vowing not to stay silent any longer.
De Jong, who has clashed with sections of the press before, said he has been “angry and irritated” by specific reports from Romero, singling out one claim in particular – that he supposedly refused to play for Barcelona in a Champions League clash against Atletico last season.
“For example, Gerard Romero. He said, and he started all of this, that I refused to play against Atletico in the Champions League last year. That’s false. It’s false. It’s simply not true,” De Jong told the club’s media.
He stressed that the accusation cuts directly against everything he feels about Barcelona and European nights.
“As I said, my dream is to play for Barca, especially in important Champions League matches. Of course I want to play. I don’t understand how you can say that I refused to play. And obviously, if people get angry and if that’s the only information they have, I understand. That’s why I’m explaining.”
The midfielder didn’t stop there. Once he opened the door, he went after a series of narratives that have followed him for months.
“Then he said that my relationship with the coach is very bad, which is completely false. I have a very good relationship with the coach. I talk to him a lot. You can ask him about all of this. It’s completely false.
“They’ve also said that my relationship with the club is bad, which is also not true, because I talk a lot with people at the club, with the directors and so on. Then they said I’m being punished. That was Gerard Romero again, and I want to mention it because I think he’s already told more lies in the past.”
The tone hardened as De Jong made clear this is no longer something he intends to brush aside.
“But I’m not going to let it slide anymore, because he needs to understand that if he puts things out that aren’t true, I’m going to call him out on it.”
Away from the media storm, De Jong is still working his way back from a knee injury. He admitted he needed to “get that anger off his chest” so he can concentrate fully on his recovery and is doing everything he can to return to the pitch as quickly as possible.
The message is blunt: he wants the noise around his name to stop – and he wants the focus back on playing for Barcelona in the games that matter most.
