Frenkie de Jong is one of the most important cogs in Ronald Koeman‘s system at Barcelona and that can be seen in the fact that no player in LaLiga Santander has more passes than the Dutchman this season.
De Jong, a near ever-present for club and country, has been successful with 1,952 of his 2,129 passes, giving him a completion rate of 91.69 percent.
Everything Barcelona do goes through De Jong and he is also the Blaugrana player who has played the most, only missing 154 minutes of the available playing time.
Versatility
The 23-year-old’s passing stats are even more impressive given that he hasn’t always been used in his preferred central midfield role this campaign.
Koeman has deployed his compatriot as a makeshift centre back on occasion due to the injuries suffered by Gerard Pique, Ronald Araujo and Samuel Umtiti and has publicly lauded the ease with which he makes the switch and is still able to play with the ball.
Valladolid
De Jong has played in defence in a back three in Barcelona‘s last three matches and it is likely he will do so again on Monday when Valladolid visit the Camp Nou.
Despite being the only one of his players who played three full games for their country, Koeman has no qualms about not giving a rest to De Jong.
Cule ranking
De Jong leads the way in LaLiga Santander for passing but two other Blaugrana teammates join him in the top five.
Dani Parejo (Villarreal) is second, Sergio Busquets third, Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) fourth and Jordi Alba complete the list.
