In the last few hours he has been subjected to so much pressure, and wear and tear that, while I hope I am wrong, he may throw in the towel this time.

I have written long and hard about Frenkie De Jong in this column. It is an affair that occupies me, worries me, and about which I have close knowledge and information about him, his past, his present, his training and his personality. I have been saying since the end of December when we were already starting to smell the toast, that the Dutchman does not fit in certain game schemes, and I'm not talking about the pitch. In the last few hours, he has been subjected to so much pressure, and wear and tear that, while I hope I'm wrong, this time he could throw in the towel.

One night in January, on 'El Chiringuito de Jugones', I explained that De Jong did not want to leave Barça and even he thought he could add to the conversion of this team under the guidance of Xavi, a coach with whom he shared the vision of the game. Unlike in the offices, where it hurt him to be made to feel like a commercial object to fix part of yesterday's and today's mess. Frenkie's emotional wear and tear are not as much as some claim, and he knows he is strong enough to withstand certain pressures. His culture and education are very different from those who pay his salary. But a contract under suspicion is already big words.

Laporta and Xavi have publicly verbalised that they count on him. But the president, with his economic interests, and the coach, employed with a more than demanding project in his hands, are in two very different landscapes. De Jong and his entourage understand the latter and have become disenchanted, to put it mildly, with the former. The pressure is high, and the atmosphere is heated. The Dutchman yet believes that he can be involved in this change of cycle in FC Barcelona. And that he surely does not deserve what he is going through.