This has been one of the craziest transfer markets we have ever seen as Barcelona not only lost Messi but also made its star player Antoine Griezmann return to his former club on the deadline day itself. Now, to replace him, Barcelona has hurriedly sign Luuk de Jong for a season-long loan.
Signing a 31-year-old striker Luuk De Jong for a loan spell seems a desperate move but we don’t know how much this will benefit the club. We saw this kind of hurried move with Martin Braithwaite and now the club though tried hard to sell him they cannot, so it is an intelligent move to sign the Dutchman on a loan move.
The club has also declared that Barça will not pay a loan fee, however, will take full responsibility for De Jong’s wages with a buy option on the deal. Barcelona also tried to sign João Félix from Atlético Madrid before finally going for an emergency striker in the form of the Dutch international.
This move obviously favours Ronald Koeman, who coached De Jong with the Netherlands and has been in favour of getting his fellow countrymen. Here are the quotes from the Catalan giants:
FC Barcelona and Sevilla FC have reached an agreement for the loan of Luuk de Jong until 30 June 2022. The Club will pay the player’s wages and an option to make the deal permanent.
The Dutch striker comes to Barça after having played 69 games in La Liga with Sevilla, scoring 10 goals and providing two assists.
De Jong came to La Liga from PSV Eindhoven where he scored 122 goals in just 204 official appearances. He was the top scorer in the Eredivisie with 28 goals in the 2018/19 season.