The Netherlands have suffered a big blow ahead of Euro 2024 as midfielder Frankie De Jong has been ruled out of the tournament due to injury.
De Jong featured just three times for Barcelona since sustaining an ankle injury in March, and Ronald Koeman was hoping that he could play a part in the continental showpiece.
Frankie De Jong Ruled Out Of 2024 European Championship Due To Injury
Frankie De Jong was included in Koeman’s Netherlands squad for the 2024 European Championship despite struggling to regain his fitness level.
However, the 27-year-old has been forced to pull out of the upcoming competition, having failed to fully recover from the injury problem.
His unavailability for the 2024 European Championship was announced by the Dutch Soccer Association on Monday, June 10, 2024, following the Netherlands’ 4-0 win over Iceland in their final warm-up match.
De Jong watched the action from the bench, as he saw his teammates display their artistry in Rotterdam.
Xavi Simons scored the opener for the Oranje in the 23rd minute, before Virgil Van Dijk, Donyell Malen, and Wout Weghorst netted in the 49th, 79th, and 90+3 minutes respectively.
Ronald Koeman On De Jong’s Unavailability
Speaking after the encounter, manager Koeman also spoke about Frankie De Jong’s unavailability for the European Championship, saying:
“He won’t be fit enough to play at this level for the next three weeks. There’s no point keeping him with us.”
A statement shared by the Netherlands national team on their website also indicated that following tests conducted it was seen that De Jong’s ankle is not yet “sufficiently resilient”.
The statement reads: “Since De Jong’s entrance into the Dutch training camp, it was clear that his participation in EURO 2024 would be a race against time
“Although it was initially hoped that he would be ready to play during the group stage of the European Championship, a planned examination yesterday and today showed that the ankle is not yet sufficiently resilient.”
Meanwhile, Ronald Koeman is expected to subsequently decide whether to call up a replacement.
AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders deputized in midfield in the absence of Frankie De Jong on Monday, June 10, 2024.
Additionally, midfielder Teun Koopmeiners, was also injured while warming up for the friendly encounter against Iceland and it is also uncertain if he is in good shape to feature in the 2024 European Championship.
Koeman expressed that they were waiting for results from an examination conducted on the player which is expected to be out on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, however, he added: “I have a bad feeling.”
The Netherlands Euro 2024 Group Matches
The Netherlands play Poland in their first game of Euro 2024, before facing France and Austria on June 21, 2024, and June 25, 2024, respectively.
The Oranje have won the European Championship just once in history, defeating the Soviet Union 2-0 in Munich in 1988.
West Germany hosted the tournament and they were a class above the rest of the teams that competed, with their array of stars like Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit, and current boss Ronald Koeman.
Definitely, Ronald Koeman’s side will be hoping to reprise the feat that they achieved in West Germany in 2024.
