Barca land Dynamite kid De Jong

Barcelona have won the race to sign the much-coveted Ajax midfielder Frenkie De Jong. The 21-year-old was announced via social media earlier today after much speculation about his next destination.

What you've all been waiting for… pic.twitter.com/gDE1mujMLF

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 23, 2019

The Catalans fended off competition from the likes of Paris Saint Germain, Manchester City and Juventus to secure De Jong to a five year deal at the Camp Nou. De Jong will officially join the club in July after seeing out the current campaign with Ajax.

It had initially appeared that PSG were leading the race for the Dutchman, with well-reputed French sources claiming the Parisians had agreed personal terms earlier this month.

It appeared though, that the midfielder had merely kept his options open ahead of deciding his future – with claims he had also reviewed offers from City and Juventus – before coming to a decision this week.

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The 21-year-old has featured in 16 of Ajax’s 18 Eredivisie games this season, scoring three and assisting one to help them to second place in the table.

De Jong is best known for his cool head in the middle of the field, making important tackles and helping the play with composed passing.

The announcement is the latest instalment of a busy week for Barcelona, having already unveiled the shock signing of Kevin-Prince Boating from Sassuolo.

The 31-year-old was snapped up seemingly out of the blue, with advanced talks between all parties reported to have taken place on Tuesday before an official announcement of the transfer later that evening.

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The transfer has thrown fresh doubt over attacking midfielder Denis Suarez’s future at Barcelona, with Boating replacing the 25-year-old in the matochday squad for their game on Wednesday evening against Sevilla in the Copa del Rey.

Suarez has flirted with the possibility of joining Arsenal this month as manager Unai Emery looks to begin shaping his squad and can be backed at 11/8 in places to move to the Etihad in the winter transfer window.

Featured image credit: “Camp Nou Barcelona” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Floris Van Cauwelaert