City going Dutch is perfect solution for the ageing Dinho...
THERE doesn’t appear to be many areas where Pep Guardiola can improve his City squad, but splashing the cash on a midfield talent making headlines on the continent could be one of them.
According to an M.E.N. poll this week 90 per cent of Blues fans want Guardiola to target Ajax midfielder Frenkie de Jong in the January transfer window – and it’s not difficult to see why.
Central midfield is an area City looked to strengthen in the summer and a succession plan for Fernandinho is an obvious problem hovering on the edge of Guardiola’s radar.
The Brazilian has been excellent for City this season but he’s 33 now and is having to get through plenty of work in the absence of any natural cover at the base of midfield.
Jorginho could have provided that, only for the Napoli midfielder to move to Chelsea in the summer and a reunion with Maurizio Sarri, but if City can lure De Jong to the Etihad it will be Jorgin-who rather than Jorginho for Blues fans.
The 21-year-old has lit up the Eredivisie for Ajax in the past couple of seasons with a wonderful blend of passing and the risk-taking dribbling skills that mark him out from many of his contemporaries.
As with most of the prospects coming out of Ajax’s gilded De Toekomst academy, De Jong is a fine technician and he’s learned other aspects of the game as well, regularly playing in the centre of defence for the Dutch giants as well as in midfield.
De Jong topped the passing accuracy and dribble success rate in the Eredivisie last season, at 91pc and 90.3pc respectively.
His passing will always be a weapon in a Guardiola side, that ability from deep midfield to keep the ball moving, but it’s his unusual dribbling from that position could give City another attacking weapon. Just imagine De Jong skipping past a couple of challenges when the Blues are faced with unlocking defences, taking players out of the game and creating space for those ahead of him to work their magic. It’s a tantalising prospect.
Former Barcelona captain Xavi has said De Jong is ‘exactly what Barcelona need’ and said ‘he does look like Sergio Busquets in terms of playing style’.
And when Xavi speaks about talented midfielders you tend to listen.
De Jong has even been compared to Johan Cruyff in some quarters. That might be going a step too far and the youngster, understandably, has done his best to play down such talk.
“I try not to pay attention to talk of comparisons, I only want to focus on myself,” he said.
“It is good to hear that people are talking like that but the truth is I am not at Cruyff’s level of talent and I never will be, so it is not something I think about.”
Bringing De Jong to the Premier League and letting him off the leash in this City team will certainly allow the talent he does have to flourish.