Midfielder Frenkie de Jong has called his future club Barcelona “the team of my dreams” ahead of his summer switch from Ajax.
The Blaugrana have tied up an €86m switch for the Dutch international this summer, while he will play the rest of the season for the Amsterdam club.
“It was a very exciting moment, when I made the decision I celebrated it with my family,” De Jong told Barcelona club media.
“Barca and Ajax are similar, they both want to play good football, have lots of possessions, I think they're similar styles…if I have the Barça style, I'll have to see it when I play.
“President (Josep Maria) Bartomeu told me everything about Barca and the advantages of playing there, it has helped me a lot because I've always been a Barca player.
“I've always wanted to play at Barca since I was a kid, I like the players, I like the style. Barca are the team of my dreams.
“I know Holland and Barca have a strong connection thanks to Johan Cruyff, I hope to do important things there.
“I think Cruyff means to me what it means to everyone: football in its purest form, he changed the game with his total football in the Dutch team of 1974. He had a huge talent for football and he was a great person.
“Was Marc Overmars important? When Barca showed real interest in me, I asked him about the city and he told me it's amazing, he lived there for three or four years.
“He told me that everything was incredible: the players, the people, the He told me that if I had the opportunity, I would take advantage of it.”
