Frenkie de Jong Defends Himself Against False Claims
Frenkie de Jong has gone on the offensive.
In a forthright interview with Barcelona’s own media channels, the Dutch midfielder directly called out journalist Gerard Romero, accusing him of spreading “false” stories and vowing not to stay silent anymore.
De Jong, who has clashed with sections of the press before, focused on a specific claim from Romero: that he refused to play for Barcelona in a Champions League match against Atletico last season.
“For example, Gerard Romero. He said, and he started all of this, that I refused to play against Atletico in the Champions League last year. That’s false. It’s false. It’s simply not true,” De Jong said.
The 27-year-old stressed that the idea he would turn down such a game runs completely against everything he feels about the club and the competition.
“As I said, my dream is to play for Barca, especially in important Champions League matches. Of course I want to play. I don’t understand how you can say that I refused to play. And obviously, if people get angry and if that’s the only information they have, I understand. That’s why I’m explaining.”
The midfielder then widened his attack, accusing Romero of building a narrative around his situation at the club that he insists has no basis in reality.
“Then he said that my relationship with the coach is very bad, which is completely false. I have a very good relationship with the coach. I talk to him a lot. You can ask him about all of this. It’s completely false.
“They’ve also said that my relationship with the club is bad, which is also not true, because I talk a lot with people at the club, with the directors and so on. Then they said I’m being punished. That was Gerard Romero again, and I want to mention it because I think he’s already told more lies in the past.”
The tone hardened as De Jong made it clear he intends to challenge anything he sees as misinformation from now on.
“But I’m not going to let it slide anymore, because he needs to understand that if he puts things out that aren’t true, I’m going to call him out on it.”
Away from the media storm, De Jong is currently sidelined with a knee injury. He admitted that part of this outburst comes from a desire to clear his head while he works on his recovery, saying he wanted to “get that anger off his chest” so he can fully focus on returning to the pitch as quickly as possible.
The message is blunt: he wants the noise around his name to stop. Now he has drawn the line himself, the next chapter will be written when he’s back in the Barcelona midfield, under the Champions League lights he insists he never turned down.
