At the end of Willem II's Eredivisie loss to Ajax earlier this month, Pol Llonch asked Matthijs de
According to the midfielder, the teenage centre-half replied, "I hope so."
The rest of Europe will be hoping De
The Blaugrana, of course, have already snapped up
"We wanted to do the signing of De Jong in the summer, but there was a lot of pressure," he explained in January.
"Other teams wanted him and we brought it forward. With Ajax, there is a very good relationship."
Indeed, these are two clubs bound by a shared footballing philosophy, united in their approach to the game by the legendary Johan Cruyff.
It is hardly surprising, then, that De Jong, who can play anywhere in midfield but also in
"I always dreamed of Barca as a kid," the 21-
"I just wanted to play for Barca. I liked the players, I liked the style."
It is essentially the same style he has been taught since joining Ajax from Willem II four years ago.
Getty/Goal
De
It proved an inspired choice, with De
“De
“He gets on really well in interviews, seems very clear in the head, down to earth and grown up.
“This is a player who does not hang his head after mistakes and keeps going. He is already a great role model for many talents in the Netherlands.”
Certainly, De
After all, it was he who scored the decisive goal in eliminating Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus in the last eight.
"I can't describe what kind of emotion we have," he told BT
"It's unbelievable that a squad from the Netherlands is showing the world what we can do.
"We did it against Bayern Munich, against Real Madrid and now against Juventus.
"We have so much potential, we're all still quite young, and I think everyone saw what we can do.
"We could have scored more, it could have been 4-1, and that's a really big compliment for us."
The biggest compliments were reserved for De
And his future now lies
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He should certainly make treble-chasing Barca even stronger.
Just as De Jong is viewed as the long-term successor to Sergio Busquets in midfield, the Blaugrana also believe De
When Louis van Gaal was asked about De
That was an incredibly unfair appraisal of Pique and Co., though.
After an error-strewn start to the season, Pique has been colossal in recent months and while Samuel Umtiti has been hindered by knee issues this season, Clement Lenglet has ensured his fellow Frenchman hasn't been missed.
Indeed, even Barca have been taken aback at just how quickly Lenglet has settled since joining from Sevilla last summer and his form is the primary reason why the Catalans are now considering cashing in on Umtiti this summer.
De
Pique may be presently rolling back the years but the former Manchester United player is now 32 and Barca know full well that they need a worthy replacement.
There really is no better candidate than De
Of course, finding a replacement for Lionel Messi is Barca's main long-term concern but given how wonderfully well the Argentine is performing this season, they clearly still have some time to work with.
So, even if unearthing ‘The New Messi’ proves impossible, Barca
And with Messi still performing miracles at 31, that is a truly scary prospect for Barca’s Liga and Champions League rivals.