Frenkie de Jong is pleased to have Xavi Hernández as coach of the Netherlands national team. The 29-year-old FC Barcelona midfielder was one of the first players in the squad to hear this summer that Xavi might take the job.
From 2021 to 2024, De Jong worked with Xavi while the Spaniard coached Barcelona. De Jong has played for the club since 2019, and the pair have remained in regular contact over the past few years.
When Xavi's possible appointment as Netherlands coach came up, De Jong heard from him directly. "He called me beforehand, so it was nice to find out early that it was under consideration. Because we hadn't had a foreign national team coach for so long, I was a little surprised. But I was pleased," De Jong tells NOS.
"We worked well together at Barcelona. I know how he thinks about football, and that suits the Netherlands national team. He wants to press and attack, and he is unlikely to change those principles. But he has a lot of variety in how he puts them into practice tactically."
After sustaining a knee injury during the last World Cup, De Jong missed the Netherlands' most recent international fixtures. It kept him out for months.
"It was a long period, and a difficult one. But there was much less real uncertainty about whether and when I would recover from this injury than there was, for example, with my earlier ankle injury."
Now recovered, he hopes to rejoin the Netherlands squad in a week and a half. The aim for the coming year is to qualify for the 2028 European Championship. "Now we have to start building again, and that will take time. But we have a very good team with potential."
"We don't have a squad like England or France, but we are one of the teams just below the leading favourites. We have to make sure we are very good as a team, that we really build something and develop a clear identity. Then we can win a trophy."