Barcelona are frustrated by the situation surrounding Frenkie De Jong. The Dutch midfielder has not improved in six weeks and continues to refuse surgery, a decision the club disagrees with.

Barcelona believes that conservative treatment has reached a plateau and is no longer producing the desired results. More than six weeks have passed since De Jong completed his World Cup campaign on June 30, and despite his recovery being suboptimal, he has still refused to undergo surgery.

Barcelona's frustration runs deep. Internally, the club believes that De Jong's entire injury management process since late winter was heavily influenced by his desire to be in peak condition for the World Cup.

February 22 was the last match in which De Jong played a full 90 minutes for Barcelona. After that, he missed nine games due to injury, then returned for six matches without reclaiming his starting position, and rested for the final two league rounds before joining the Netherlands national team. Barcelona believes this represented overly cautious management of his condition ahead of the World Cup.

With the national team, the situation was entirely different. De Jong started every World Cup match for the Netherlands and maintained that role until the team's elimination on June 30. Afterward, De Jong claimed the Dutch medical team had misjudged the injury's severity and that he continued playing because he believed it would not worsen. Barcelona, however, questions this account.

After the World Cup, the club opted for conservative treatment with a plan to reassess after approximately four weeks whether surgery would be necessary. This is where the main disagreement emerged. De Jong contends that the four-week window should begin from when he resumed training, arguing that only then would the specialized recovery work truly test the knee's response. Barcelona takes a different view. The club believes De Jong was already undergoing similar recovery work before resuming training and cannot understand why the timeline should reset. From a medical and performance standpoint, the time allotted for conservative treatment has far exceeded expectations.

The core issue is that expected improvement has not materialized. The knee remains problematic, and Barcelona believes conservative treatment is reaching its limits. The club's position is clear: De Jong should have surgery to resolve the issue and begin recovery with a defined timeline. Yet De Jong remains hesitant about surgery, hoping to extend conservative treatment.

This disagreement should not be dismissed lightly. For De Jong, the critical four-week window is still ongoing. For Barcelona, this period began at the end of the World Cup, and further delays will only postpone what appears increasingly unavoidable.

Surgery also carries sporting and administrative consequences. A prolonged absence could allow Barcelona to explore regulatory options to create registration space for other signings. The club would also receive FIFA compensation for an injury sustained during international competition. However, the primary concern remains sporting. Hans-Flick needs clarity on when he can rely on this key midfielder, especially with Rodri's arrival potentially affecting De Jong's role. Barcelona wants to resolve this long-standing issue quickly, while De Jong prefers to wait. This divergence has created significant tension within the club.

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