March 20, (THEWILL) – Frenkie de Jong, the Barcelona midfielder, will not be able to participate in the Netherlands’ first two Euro 2024 qualifiers due to an injury.
The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) announced that de Jong had “upper leg complaints” after playing the full 90 minutes in Barcelona’s 2-1 victory over Real Madrid in Sunday’s El Clasico, which moved the Blaugrana 12 points clear at the top of La Liga. The KNVB also confirmed that Ajax forward Steven Bergwijn had to withdraw from the Oranje squad due to a knee injury.
Ronald Koeman, the Oranje’s head coach, has chosen PSV midfielder Joey Veerman and Borussia Dortmund’s Donyell Malen as the respective replacements for de Jong and Bergwijn.
The Netherlands will begin their campaign against France in Paris on Friday, followed by a match against Gibraltar at De Kuip three days later. Friday’s trip to France will be the first game of Koeman’s second spell in charge.
The former Barcelona boss was confirmed as the Oranje’s new head coach before last year’s World Cup, with Louis van Gaal presiding over their run to the Qatar 2022 quarter-finals.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
