Frankie de Jong, 29, continues to recover from an injury suffered in early September, but his return will not be short-term as the midfielder is not expected to be fully recovered until October, provided his recovery program is not interrupted due to pain or infirmity.
According to the Spanish newspaper “Mundo Deportivo”, during the World Cup, the Dutch player suffered a rupture of the internal lateral ligament of the right knee, an injury whose diagnosis was officially announced by “Barcelona” on July 23, although the information that reached the technical staff led by Hans Flick indicates that the injury occurred during one of the training sessions of the Dutch national team.
The discovery of the injury was delayed due to the player receiving an incorrect diagnosis from his country’s team doctors, forcing him to continue playing. In addition, after his participation in the World Cup ended on June 30, he did not join Barcelona training, but instead went to Ibiza for a two-week vacation.
Thus, Barcelona did not know the true severity of the injury until much later, as the first accurate diagnosis of the injury was made by the Catalan club on July 13.
Frankie then opted for conservative treatment to deal with his injury, despite the opposition of the club’s medical staff, who believed surgery was the best option.
However, the Catalan club respected the midfielder’s decision and both parties agreed to monitor the development of his condition according to his feelings and response to treatment.
In this context, sources in the technical staff indicate that the next date for the evaluation of De Jong’s condition will be after the next international break, which will start on September 21 and end with the return to league competitions on October 10 or 11.
The Dutch international is set to take advantage of the period away from club competition to undergo conservative treatment as he has opted to undergo the final push.
Frank hopes to be ready to join the squad from October 8 when his team-mates return to Barcelona training.
That depends on him getting better and not experiencing more pain in the damaged ligament in his right knee. De Jong must also regain a minimum level of match fitness before returning to the pitch.
The problem is that after the break, Barcelona’s opponents will be strong, namely Getafe, Galatasaray, Real Betis, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid in El Clasico scheduled for October 25, which will require Barcelona’s players to be in top physical condition.
Hence, Hansi Flick will also have an important role to play in determining how to handle De Jong’s return.
De Jong is currently undergoing continuous running exercises in a straight line on the pitch, but has not yet started handling the ball or taking part in drills that involve tackling other players and is therefore still undergoing several stages of a conservative treatment programme.
You can discuss topics and news in more depth on the “Kooora” forums.
