Frenkie de Jong #21

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As a youngster in Ajax’s youth system De Jong was once tasked with providing some opposition for first-team players during a training session. Instead of keeping his head down and sitting back, he started dribbling around them and scoring, until the coach shouted at him to stop. It was a glimpse of what was to come. Paris St-Germain, Manchester City and Manchester United all made moves for him before he left Ajax in 2019, but his heart was set on Barcelona. As a boy he and his family used to holiday 50 miles away from the city on a campsite near L’Escala. “Those holidays were great,” he recalled, soon after sealing the €75m transfer. “There were three football pitches on the campsite. One summer, we even went to watch a Barça friendly. I remember Ronaldinho playing and it was incredibly exciting to watch him live.” These days, he is one of the legends. He wears the No 21 shirt as a tribute to his grandfather. “I brought my whole family to my presentation in Barcelona,” he said in 2019, “except my grandfather Hans de Jong, my father's father. He died on the day of my 21st birthday. It is kind of a tribute. He was a huge football fan."

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