Six weeks ago, Frenkie de Jong suffered his third ankle injury of the season during Barcelona’s defeat to Real Madrid. The 27-year-old was ruled out for the remainder of the 2023-24 campaign, although he was expected to be back in time to play for the Netherlands in this summer’s European Championship.
Speaking to NOS, de Jong has provided an update on his injury situation. With two weeks to go until his first match in Euro 2024, he admitted that he does not know when he will be able to make his return.
“I’m not fit yet, so I can’t say I’m doing well. I’m not doing anything with the group yet. I don’t know precisely when I will be back.”
Despite this, de Jong admitted that he would be willing to risk further injury in order to take his place in Ronald Koeman’s side in Germany.
“I am willing to take risks to play in the Euros for my country, but the most important thing is that it won’t become a chronic ankle injury. Right now it doesn’t look like this is the case, which is why I didn’t have surgery.
“I have taken risks (with the ankle), and I have done this in the past too. But this is the 3rd time I have this ankle injury now. I can’t allow it to become something chronic so I need to recover well.”
De Jong’s remarks are unlikely to go down well with Barcelona officials, given that another injury during the summer would almost certainly see him miss a large portion of pre-season, and possibly the start of the 2024-25 campaign itself. Given that his future at the club is also uncertain, it’s probably not the best time to say something like this.
