Frenkie de Jong’s Barcelona return hinges on October fitness test

Frenkie de Jong is unlikely to return to action in the short term, with Barcelona expecting the midfielder to need until October to fully recover from his right-knee injury.

The 29-year-old is continuing his rehabilitation after suffering the problem at the beginning of September, although his progress will depend on avoiding further pain or a setback. Barcelona are due to assess his condition again after the next international break, which begins on 21 September and ends when league football resumes on 10 or 11 October.

According to Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo, De Jong suffered a tear to the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during the World Cup. Barcelona officially announced the diagnosis on 23 July, but information received by Hansi Flick’s coaching staff indicated that the injury may have occurred during a Netherlands training session around 16 June.

The injury was not identified immediately because De Jong was given an incorrect diagnosis by the Netherlands medical team. As a result, he continued playing. After his World Cup involvement ended on 30 June, he did not report for Barcelona training and instead spent two weeks on holiday in Ibiza.

Barcelona therefore took some time to establish the full severity of the problem. The club’s first accurate diagnosis was made on 13 July, according to the report.

De Jong subsequently chose to pursue conservative treatment rather than undergo surgery. That decision was made despite opposition from Barcelona’s medical department, which believed an operation would provide the best solution.

The club nevertheless respected the midfielder’s preference. Barcelona and the player agreed to monitor his recovery according to how he felt and how he responded to the treatment programme.

De Jong intends to use the upcoming break in club competition to give the non-surgical approach one final period to take effect. He hopes to be ready to rejoin the main squad on 8 October, when Barcelona’s international players are scheduled to return to training.

That target remains conditional on an improvement in his symptoms and the absence of further discomfort in the injured ligament. De Jong will also need to build up a minimum level of match fitness before he can return to competitive football.

The timing would be especially important because Barcelona face a demanding run of fixtures after the international break. Their opponents are Getafe, Galatasaray, Real Betis, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, with El Clasico scheduled for 25 October.

Those matches will require Barcelona’s players to be in the best possible physical condition, meaning Flick will have a significant role in deciding how De Jong is brought back into the team.

The Netherlands international is currently completing continuous running drills in a straight line on the pitch. He has not yet begun ball work or taken part in exercises involving opposition from other players, leaving several stages of his conservative rehabilitation programme still to complete.

Barcelona will therefore continue to assess De Jong’s recovery before committing to a return date. The October evaluation is expected to provide the clearest indication of whether he can feature during the demanding schedule that includes the meeting with Real Madrid.

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