Frenkie De Jong will be upset at the manner in which his Barcelona debut ended, an opening day loss to Athletic Bilbao last Friday.
The €75m signing showed some glimpses of brilliance but struggled to make an impression for large parts of the match.
His inexperience coming into a new league was obvious and the man-marking attention he got from Raul Garcia and Oihan Sancet later on seemed to have flustered him a bit.
Regardless of the attention, he never lost the ball once and looked comfortable in possession although he wasn’t as influential as he’ll have loved to.
KEY STATS
Passes (success-rate): 66 (93.9%)
Tackles: 1
Fouled: 2
Key passes: 0
Interceptions: 2
Dribbles: 2
Touches: 75
De Jong’s numbers on his Barcelona debut.
(all stats via Squawka**)
Sergio Busquets didn’t play at all on Friday evening and it was obvious his experience was needed in the game.
This analysis compares both midfielders, their playing styles, similarities and differences.
Passing Abilities
Last campaign both players had decent stats for passing and number of passes per game.
When it comes to passing percentage, De Jong, though he played fewer games, had a higher passing accuracy of 91% and passing an average of 79 passes per game.
Busquets has a passing accuracy of 89.7% and a passing average of 68 passes a game.
In terms of Key passes, De Jong averages 1.5 key passes per game while Busquets averaged 0.4.
A strong indication the 22-year-old would be ideal for a more attacking setup.
Defensive Stats
Amongst the two, Sergio Busquets is the more aggressive defender between them averaging 2.6 tackles and 1.5 interceptions per game shielding the back four.
Frenkie De Jong averaged 1.7 tackles and 1.5 interceptions last season for Ajax.
Conclusion
In as much as De Jong plays different positions, there may most likely be no problems regarding whether they will play together or not.
There’s a lot more to come from the young playmaker and he showed moments of brilliance.
However, his inexperience in a new league was also evident.
Didn’t have the authority in the middle that Sergio Busquets so often does.
A lot of positives to take from this – despite the defeat – but also a warning that he needs time to settle into his new surroundings.
