“We don’t talk much with Xavi, but we only talk about football” – Frenkie de Jong admits he knew he would play fewer minutes for Barcelona this season
Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong recently opened up on his reduced playing time under Xavi Hernandez this season.
The Dutch midfielder has been reduced to a bit-part player by Xavi so far this campaign. He has played only 521 minutes of first-team football across 10 games and has managed to score one goal.
He started on the bench midweek as the Catalan club were held to a 3-3 draw by Inter Milan at Camp Nou in the UEFA Champions League. While speaking about his playing time, he said (via Metro):
"We don’t talk much with Xavi, but we only talk about football. I knew I would play fewer minutes at the beginning of the season. I want to be a starter again.
"Against Bayern, I wasn’t a starter and I hope to be against Real Madrid. Maybe he already decided, but usually we don’t know until the day of the game."
It is evident that the player is determined to win his place back in the side. His future at the club was subject to speculation throughout the summer as Manchester United and Chelsea were interested in the Dutchman.
He initially refused to take a paycut to help out his cash-strapped team and was even booed by Blaugrana fans during the club's preseason games. He did, however, eventually agree to a paycut to stay with the team. De Jong spoke about his decision to stay in Spain:
"I was calm. I decided in May that I wanted to stay. My opinion has never changed during all this period. I remained calm.
"But then you know that the pressure would start coming from the newspapers, from the president, from everywhere in fact. But I wanted to stay at Barca, so it never bothered me."
Xavi Hernandez insists that Barcelona can have a great season
Barcelona are currently at the top of the La Liga table, having collected 22 points from eight games. However, they are on the verge of elimination from the Champions League group stages for the second successive season. They are currently ranked third with four points from as many games in Group C.
Barcelona take on Real Madrid next in La Liga on Sunday (16 October). Ahead of the mega clash, Xavi implied that the Blaugranas could still have a great season despite being on the brink of elimination from the Champions League (via MARCA):
"We can have a great season. We have to fight for the other titles we can win. And if we do, it will be a good season."