Barcelona star admits he thought of Arsenal move

A lot of players have used Arsenal as a stepping stone to joining Barcelona and Frenkie De Jong was close to doing it as well. The Dutch midfielder has revealed that he was thinking about moving to the Premier League side soon before heading to Camp Nou.

De Jong claims that he wanted to go the ‘Marc Overmars route’ but when the opportunity of joining the Catalan side came, he just had to make the jump. The former Ajax star signed the deal to join the Spanish side in January and officially joined them last week.

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“In my mind, I have had the following list for a long time: Ajax-Arsenal-Barcelona, call it the Marc Overmars route. But yes, if you can go directly to Barcelona, then you are right where you want to be. Faster than you ever dared to dream,” De Jong told Voetbal International.

Despite claiming that he wanted to follow the ‘Marc Overmars route’, de Jong would be hoping not replicate the Dutch legend’s form at Camp Nou. Overmars failed to spot in the starting line and was often a substitute.

Barcelona’s first pre-season friendly will take place on the 23rd of July in Japan. De Jong is expected to make his first appearance for the club when they face Chelsea that day as he has joined them for training already.