De Jong return lifts Dutch Nations League hopes, says Xavi

AMSTERDAM: The return of Frenkie de Jong to the Netherlands squad comes as a major boost in their quest to top their Nations League group and advance to next year's quarter-finals, coach Xavi Hernandez said on Monday.

The injury-plagued midfielder last played for his country at this year's World Cup, missing the four Nations League fixtures in which the Dutch collected eight points to join Greece at the top of the Group A2 standings.

De Jong has long been the team's talisman and Xavi said he expected him to take a lead role again at home to Greece on Friday and away to Germany.

"He knows our philosophy, our ideas and he must be important on the pitch with us. I want to see his personality, he's one of the captains of the team, he has experience," said Xavi who coached De Jong when he was in charge at Barcelona from 2021-24.

PLAYMAKING ROLE

The 29-year-old De Jong is expected to slot back into the playmaking role where Joey Veerman impressed in two wins over Serbia and 2-2 draw in Greece.

"All the players can play together, especially the good players, and Joey is doing so well in Dortmund, and he did very well with us here," Xavi said.

"In Spain they said Iniesta and I couldn't play together, we were too similar in our style and approach. Can you imagine?

"Frenkie will be no new discovery for me, he's a top player. He can play everywhere. Yesterday, he played as a full back for some minutes (in Barcelona's win over Atletico Madrid). He's a top player," the coach added.

The top two teams in the group advance to the last eight in March and a win over Greece at the Johan Cruyff Arena would guarantee the Dutch a slot.

"This is the next goal, and then we will think about the other goals, but the first is to qualify to quarter-finals," added Xavi, who took over as Netherlands coach after the World Cup.

"We showed a good level in the last window. We have confidence we will qualify."--REUTERS