Frenkie De Jong has gone back on the attack at the Catalan media.
The Dutch midfielder famously once held a spicy press conference in 2024 which he denied claims about his wages, and it worked.
Speculation about his off-field activity ceased, but that is until now.
Injured for the start of Barcelona’s season, reports claimed he played through injury for the Netherlands at the World Cup.
De Jong has now come out and strongly denied them to the club’s media channel.
Frenkie De Jong denies injury fake news
“We had a test done and it showed that the injury was now more serious than when I had it done in the United States,” he said.
“It was really tough because I wasn’t expecting it. Nobody was expecting it. That’s really messed up. It really sucks.
“I wasn’t expecting it. It really sucks because what I love most is playing football, especially for Barcelona and the national team. So when I’m injured, it really sucks.
“I kept playing because I love playing football. The World Cup is a dream and I would always do everything possible to play. I’ve also done it many times at Barca and that’s what I did.”
He added: “We have developed a plan that everyone knows and agrees with.
“I’m seeing that many things are being said that aren’t true. Many false things are being published, and I’m noticing that this is damaging my image and affecting how some people think about me.
“I’m okay, but I feel like there’s a lot of noise around me, a lot of fake news and things like that, and it bothers me.
“I wanted to explain a little bit about how I feel and what’s been going on, to get that anger off my chest and be able to focus solely on recovery.”
De Jong clears up other rumours
De Jong also felt the need to deny claims about his relationship with Hansi Flick.
He continued: “It was said that my relationship with the coach is very bad, which is completely false.
“I have a very good relationship with the coach. I talk to him a lot. You can ask him. It’s false.
“There are journalists who publish stories to be the center of attention, even if they’re false.”
He went on: “They’ve said that my relationship with the club is bad, which isn’t true either, because I talk a lot with people from the club, with the directors and others. I’d say my relationship with the club is very good.
“They’ve said that I refused to play against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League last year. That’s false. It’s false. It’s simply not true.
“Right now I’m going through a difficult time because I’m injured, but I can feel that there are many Barca fans supporting me.
“I think that should always be the general message: we have to support each other even when things are going badly.”
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