Frenkie de Jong, the Barcelona star, is facing a crossroads that may have unforeseen consequences, after making a series of controversial decisions since his participation with the Netherlands national team ended at the World Cup on June 30 last month due to injury.
According to the Spanish newspaper "As" , the first and most impactful decision was for Frenkie de Jong to play the last three World Cup matches despite feeling pain in his right knee, pain that worsened to an alarming extent, to the point where he appeared visibly affected during the match against Morocco.
De Jong justified his stance by asserting that the doctors had misdiagnosed his condition, having underestimated the severity of the knee pain he was suffering from.
After the Netherlands' elimination by Morocco, Frenkie decided to take several weeks of rest, before returning to the sports city on July 13, appearing visibly anxious, as the pain persisted and the knee swelling became evident.
The tests he underwent in Barcelona confirmed the severity of the injury, revealing a tear in the medial collateral ligament of the right knee.
The player was faced with two options for dealing with the injury, each with its pros and cons; the first was to undergo surgery, which would have meant an absence of between five and six months, with a guarantee of recovering his right knee to nearly 100%, and the second was to follow conservative treatment, which could have allowed him to return after about three months if successful, but carried the risk of no full guarantees regarding knee stability.
Faced with this situation, and contrary to the opinion of the club's medical staff, the player decided to follow conservative treatment, accepting the risk of not recovering 100%.
After a month and a half of rehabilitation, De Jong took to the pitch on August 25 to test the stability of his knee and how comfortable he felt, but the results were not positive, and he was forced to leave the field in a visibly affected state.
With this first setback in his treatment path, the club resumed pressuring the player, advising him to start a new chapter in dealing with the injury.
Even surgeon Juan Carlos Munioz met with the Dutch player to recommend surgery as the best solution, but Frenkie held firm to his position, preferring to exhaust all options offered by conservative treatment.
Sentiments among the parties involved are currently highly contradictory; Barcelona insists that the only viable path to avoid repeating the cases of Samuel Umtiti and Ansu Fati is to undergo surgery, but the Dutch player remains hesitant to accept the surgical solution, aware that he would be effectively absent for three-quarters of the season.
In any case, Barcelona has made decisions that clearly indicate the limited expectations regarding Frenkie in the short and medium term, with the signing of Rodri and the registration of Bryan Gil with the first team serving as clear evidence of this.
In this context, the club speaks of handling the player's situation day by day to assess his status, while avoiding setting dates or making predictions about his return, recognizing that the matter is extremely complex and may have unforeseen consequences.
De Jong is facing a time crunch, as the initial proposal was to wait four weeks to evaluate the conservative treatment, but more than six weeks have now passed and the situation remains complex with no signs of a near-term solution.
Xavi Hernandez, the new manager of the Netherlands national team, was asked about De Jong's condition during his presentation, and responded that the most important thing is for the player to recover fully, aware that he would not be able to rely on the Barcelona player during his first appearance with the Netherlands on September 24 against Germany.
Indicators point to the international break at the end of the current September as a decisive date for determining the final plan, where surgery would mean De Jong's absence until next April and effectively the end of his season, while insisting on his current position means uncertainty about his return date, which will not be before November at best, in addition to the doubts surrounding the condition of his right knee.
You can discuss topics and news in more depth in the "Kooora" forums
