Barcelona and Netherlands midfielder Frenkie de Jong has come out swinging, hitting back at the rumours swirling around him in recent weeks and venting his anger at the false stories damaging his image.
He made the comments in an interview with the Catalan club's official media, using the platform to clear up the latest on his injury recovery and answer the reports published about him.
"I'm fine, but I feel there's a lot of noise around me, a lot of fake news and similar things, and it bothers me," De Jong said, adding that he wanted to "clarify some matters".
Seven years at the club have not dimmed the dream. "Playing for Barcelona was always my dream, and I still have dreams to fulfil here, and we still have big goals," the Dutchman said.
His injury clearly cuts deep. "I'm very much in pain over all this, it bothers me a lot and frustrates me greatly, because what I love most is playing football, specifically with Barcelona and the national team, and so when I'm injured, it bothers me a great deal," he explained.
Then he lifted the lid on how it happened, tracing it back to a training-ground accident. "Someone fell on me and I had a small problem in the knee. We did the tests and they showed a small problem, and everyone knew that. They told me I could keep playing, and that I would feel some discomfort and a bit of pain, but I could continue playing and the condition would not worsen." He insisted he had been assured the injury would not get any worse.
Why did he carry on playing? "I kept playing because I adore football, the World Cup is a dream, and I will always do everything I can to take part, and I have done that a lot with Barcelona, and that's what I did." After the tournament, he stayed in contact with the club and came back for fresh tests. "We did a scan and it showed that the injury had become more serious than it was when I had the tests in the United States, and that was very difficult because I hadn't expected it, and no one had expected it."
Right now he is working through a rehabilitation programme with physiotherapists on a plan agreed with the club. "We put together a plan that everyone knows and everyone agrees to," he said, before turning back to the coverage. "I see there are a lot of things being said that are not true."
The stories have got under his skin, and he admitted as much. "Yes, this affects me, I get angry and annoyed," he said, drawing a line between football opinions and what he considers lies. "People have the right to express their opinions, and if they say: Frenkie is a bad player, or Frenkie doesn't have the level to play for Barcelona, I may or may not agree with them, and I think they're wrong, but that's another matter."
His warning came next. "But now they are publishing many things that are not true, and I notice that this damages my image and affects the way some people think about me."
One claim in particular stung. De Jong aimed a direct accusation at journalist Gerard Romero. "He said I refused to play against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League last year, and that's completely untrue, it's a lie, and something that is entirely false."
He tore into the story. "My dream is to play for Barcelona, especially the big matches in the Champions League, and of course I want to play, everyone wants to play in these matches, and I don't understand how it can be said that I refused to play."
Talk of a fallout with Hansi Flick got equally short shrift. "He said my relationship with the coach is very bad, and that's completely untrue, my relationship with the coach is very good and I talk to him a lot, and you can ask the coach about all this."
Reports of a rift with the board fared no better. "They said my relationship with the club is bad, and that's not true either, because I talk a lot with the club's officials and with the administrators and others, and I can say that my relationship with the club is very excellent."
Then came the claim that Barcelona had punished him. "This is also what Gerard Romero said, and I want to mention that because I believe he has reported more lies in the past, but I will no longer allow that to pass, he has to understand that if he publishes untrue things, I will come out and expose them myself."