(Football news) Luuk de Jong has bid his goodbye to Barcelona fans as he leaves the club after a season-long loan. The Dutchman’s deal expires which means he will be heading back to parent club Sevilla for now, although it’s expected he will be joining PSV Eindhoven again. De Jong admits it’s been very a “special time” at Barcelona and he’s wishing the club all the best for the future endeavours. The Dutchman was bought by Ronald Koeman on loan in a move which was widely derided last summer. However, De Jong managed to win over supporters with time and proved a useful squad member last season.
De Jong eventually ended the season with seven goals in 29 matches for Barcelona which was a decent return for him, particularly when you consider most of his appearances were off the bench and he played only 719 minutes. He also tended to score some pretty important goals against the likes of Mallocra and Atletico Madrid. Xavi singled out De Jong for his performances in the second half of the season, describing him as an “example” for his ability to get the job done with no complaints. De Jong will also be remembered for almost scoring a couple of blinders, when he hit the woodwork with a bicycle kick and also went close with a scorpion kick against Granada.
PSV Eindhoven on the other hand has been looking to lure De Jong back to the Netherlands for quite some months now as they seek a replacement for Eran Zahavi. It seemed a deal was quite far away with Sevilla as they were demanding a hefty fee for the Dutchman, despite the fact that there was only one year left on his contract. However, according to various reports on Friday, PSV have apparently reached an agreement with Sevilla and De Jong will finally undergo his medical on Saturday. Sevilla on their official website posted an article confirming the deal was done but they quickly deleted the post. De Jong has previously played for PSV between 2014 and 2019 with the 31-year-old scoring 112 times in 204 appearances for the club. The Dutch international spent last season on loan at Barcelona and proved his critics wrong and became an instant fan favourite.
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