Atalanta midfielder Marten de Roon has heaped praise on Barcelona playmaker Frenkie de Jong and feels the Blaugrana star is up there with the very best. De Jong is enjoying his first season with the Catalan giants after he put an end to his successful spell with current Eredivisie champions Ajax.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi both voted for De Jong in the FIFA Player of the Year awards, with the Dutch international emerging as one of the best in the business.
De Roon has enjoyed seeing the rise of his Netherlands team-mate and feels De Jong is fully deserving of his recent praise. “If footballers like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo vote for you in an election, then you know that he is good,” he said.
Related: Barca Not The Best, Says De Jong
“I think I could reasonably see with the Dutch national team how good he is. It is special to play with such a person. Maybe it’s hard to see if you are that close to him as a team-mate.”
De Roon added: “If I have Frenkie next to me, I like to play the ball to him because I know he has some ideas. He has something nobody else has.”
Barcelona currently find themselves in second place in the La Liga table as they look forward to a return to action following the international break.
The Blaugrana travel to Eibar on Saturday before a trip to Slavia Prague in the Champions League on Wednesday and then the first El Clasico against Real Madrid on October 26.
