Frenkie de Jong News and Analysis

Injury News: Frenkie de Jong set to return to Barcelona lineup soon

17Sep

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Features, LaLiga

Injury News: Frenkie de Jong set to return to Barcelona lineup soon

Barcelona star center midfielder Frenkie de Jong was one of the best midfielders in the world during the 2022/23 season when Barca won LaLiga, but he was far from his best last season. This was in part due to Sergio Busquets' departure to MLS, but it was also in part due to de Jong's injury woes. He suffered nagging ankle injuries throughout the season, and, now, he has yet to play in the 2024/25 campaign under Hansi Flick due to a serious ankle injury he picked up last season. The good news is that de Jong is set to make his return to the Barcelona lineup soon. Diario AS reports that Barcelona believe he can return to action next week against Getafe in LaLiga on Sept. 25. That leaves Frenkie de Jong out of the Champions League opener against Monaco and a tough weekend encounter i...

Barcelona’s highest-rated players in FC25 are an absolute joke

25Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Features, LaLiga

Barcelona’s highest-rated players in FC25 are an absolute joke

EA Sports's offering of the football video game FC25 will become available next month on Sept. 27, and the player ratings are being leaked, with Barcelona fans, like any other fanbase, wondering just what in the heck the powers that be over at EA are thinking. It often seems like they aren't watching the games when they come up with the ratings, frequently biasing their evaluations towards aging players who are declining, failing to account for their slip in standard while, on the other hand, not rating up-and-coming superstars properly. Barcelona right winger Lamine Yamal was the best player at the European Championships and was arguably Barca's best player in the 2023/24 LaLiga season at the age of 16, yet he is only rated 81 despite already being a world-class winger. Meanwhile...

Transfers: Barca’s worst wage offenders; Why West Ham want Carlos Soler; Making sense of Joao Felix to Chelsea

21Aug

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Champions League, Features, LaLiga, Premier League

Transfers: Barca’s worst wage offenders; Why West Ham want Carlos Soler; Making sense of Joao Felix to Chelsea

Why are Chelsea going back for Joao Felix despite his 2023 flop? How might Carlos Soler help West Ham return to European football? And which three players are hurting Barcelona the most in the wage department? Here are the latest takes around the world football transfer rumor mill. Making sense of Joao Felix to Chelsea Leave it to Chelsea to make the most shocking transfer of the summer window, because for a fee of 45 million pounds, the Blues have agreed to bring Joao Felix back to Stamford Bridge...on a permanent basis. It's not like Felix set the Bridge on fire when he arrived in the second half of the 2022/23 season, nor is it as if he was such a rousing success at the Camp Nou either. Felix is who he is at this stage. A very talented, very limited playmaker who plays more f...

The 10 best players Chelsea could sign on the summer 2024 transfer market

15Jun

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Features, Premier League

The 10 best players Chelsea could sign on the summer 2024 transfer market

Chelsea have been the most active team on the transfer market since Todd Boehly took over the club in 2022, but, for the most part, Blues' fans have been treated to poor results. There were signs of improvement last season, though, because Chelsea brought in two players who were legitimately among the best at their respective positions in the Premier League. Cole Palmer is legitimately a Premier League Player of the Season candidate, while right back Malo Gusto ranks among the best right backs on the planet right now. Chelsea finished well outside the top four for yet another season, but with the right moves, there is optimism that the London-based club can get back to European football's premier competition. Here are the 10 best overall players Chelsea could sign in the summer...

LaLiga Player Rankings: Griezmann tops Real Madrid stars, Barça’s midfield shines, all hail Girona

27Nov

By Kevin ParviziNo Comments

Features, LaLiga

LaLiga Player Rankings: Griezmann tops Real Madrid stars, Barça’s midfield shines, all hail Girona

As November begins to draw to a close and the halfway point of the 2023/24 LaLiga season creeps up on us, it's time to take stock of the best performances of the campaign thus far, specifically, the individuals contributing to a season that has somehow been even more thrilling than last year's unpredictable campaign. Though the Premier League continues to draw the most eyeballs - and money - Spanish football has returned to the top in terms of excitement and quality of play on the pitch. There's a tight title race, a captivating top-four race, and intriguing relegation battle, and a host of mid-table teams worth rooting. Who are the best individuals in LaLiga right now? Let's rank the top 10, basing it on their overall quality - not just performances in the current season. 10. Br...

4Jun

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Features, LaLiga

Final 2022/23 LaLiga Team of the Season

Now that the 2022/23 LaLiga season has officially come to a close with all the European places decided and the teams heading to the Segunda aware of their fate, it's time to take a look back at the season that was by naming a final Team of the Season. As expected, champions Barcelona dominate this XI, having sewn up the title quite some time ago with their 2-1 head-to-head win over eternal rivals Real Madrid. But not everything is about the "Big 3" as several underrated standouts made the team, including one star from now-relegated side Espanyol. GK Marc-André ter Stegen, Barcelona: Thibaut Courtois would have been the pick in any other season, and Elche's Édgar Badía was also exceptional despite his club's horrible season. But it would be disingenuous to pick against Marc-André t...