Barcelona Star Reveals What He Realized Playing Alongside Lionel Messi

Barcelona star Frenkie de Jong has revealed in an upcoming book what he realized as he play alongside Lionel Messi.

De Jong joined Barcelona in Jan. 23 last year via a five-year contract worth with an initial fee worth €75 million ($84.8 million). His impressive performance with Ajax saw him playing alongside the six-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi. It didn’t take long for De Jong to adapt to the Barca captain and he voiced out his gratitude towards the Catalan club for letting him learn from one of the greatest athlete of all time.

In an extract from the upcoming book “Van Johan tot Frenkie,” written by Edwin Winkels, a freelance journalist based in Spain and a former reporter for the newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya , pre-published by Algemeen Dagblad, (via Footballoranje.com) De Jong revealed what he realized about the Barcelona superstar.

According to De Jong, some people don’t realize how good Messi really is. He even noted that people “often get fed up” when someone, such as Messi, dominates the game for too long. But no matter what people think, De Jong is convinced that “Leo” is still the best player in the world.

“He is really very good. People underestimate it.” De Jong said of Messi.

“When someone is the best for a long time, people often get fed up, they get sympathy for the underdog. After Messi had won the Golden Ball three or four times, the argument was: now someone else may win. But that is not the case, that award must be for the best footballer. And he has been every year, until now,” he continued.

The Dutch midfield star then specified all the things he noticed in Messi’s game. As per De Jong, it is true that the Argentine can do almost everything inside the pitch. As for other Barca players, De Jong revealed that they “mainly have to adapt” to Messi and it’s not difficult at all.

“I notice that he is the best in all aspects of the game. Playing in position, in finishing, he sees the game well, he is fast, agile, small but super strong. We mainly have to adapt to him, but that is not difficult. He offers himself well and he plays you well, it makes sense that you adapt to someone like that. Here at Barça they are all world class players, but Messi is really better than the rest,” De Jong pointed out.