Barcelona are set to be without key midfielder Frenkie de Jong until November, as per the initial diagnosis. De Jong has been athis very best at the start of this season, but even before that, his absence has tended to cost the Blaugrana dearly.
Sport point out that de Jong’s absence has been accompanied by significant drop off in results in the past. Having missed just 16 games through injury since he joined the club, Barcelona have won just six of them – 37.5%. Seven draws and three defeats make up the rest of that figure, where they only scored 18 goals and conceded 13 times in those games.
🚨 Of the 16 games De Jong has missed through injury, Barcelona have only won six. @AdriiFdez pic.twitter.com/TH94bZYlvO
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) September 25, 2023
De Jong will miss matches against Real Mallorca, Sevilla, Porto, Granada, Athletic Club and Shakhtar Donetsk, as well as in theory the Clasico against Real Madrid on the 28th of October. Yet de Jong is keen to be there for that match, and will work towards being so.
There’s no doubt that de Jong has been imperious this season, and there is no way of replicating his impact through others. If there is one thing that works in Xavi Hernandez’s favour, they do at least have quality replacements, even if their squad is a little thin on the ground. Given Pedri’s injury, he will have to use Oriol Romeu, Ilkay Gundogan, Gavi or Fermin Lopez going forward. The good news is that the former three have been in excellent form so far this season.
