Frenkie's absolutely phenomenal on the ball and would be an incredible option to improve our possession. However, I'm not as convinced about the defensive side of his game. The reason we play Fred is because the rest of our midfielders are so poor defensively and we rely on him to press and win possession back for us. I don't feel like that has ever really been de Jong's best asset. Would you disagree with that?
Honestly, I think I'd prefer Frenkie as a potential Pogba replacement assuming he doesn't renew his contract.
Yeah I would have to disagree with that. He's at his best in a more defensive role, where he can bring the ball up from the back and if I had to make a comparison, the role that best suits him is the role that Michael Carrick fulfilled. We haven't had a player like him since he left, but Frenkie would be exactly that. Replacing Pogba is not something he could do. Frenkie seems to struggle in that same role often for the Dutch national team and Barcelona. He is more of a deep lying playmaker, might even be more of a 5th CB sorta player, totally different from what Pogba does for us. He might not be the prototypical Premier League CDM, or CDM in general. But what he lacks in physical presence, he makes up for in technical ability. He made opponents look silly in an Ajax shirt. Obviously, Eredivisie is a totally different level of football, but THAT Frenkie was why we rate him so highly, and both Barca and Louis don't use him like they should because they lack quality at other positions. And because theres Busquets still..
Edit: Have to say though. There aren't many players like Carrick with passing ability like he had. That's where Frenkie needs to be more bold. He tends to look for the easy passes more than a perfectly placed long ball for instance (even though he has the ability to do so, maybe its the Barca style of play that rubbed off), but what he does bring is calmness and great footballing ability. Able to hold the ball very well and he's ALWAYS open, he moves around a lot. That's exactly what we are missing right now, a player that can hold the ball well and a cdm that looks and plays confident. And I'm sure our back 4 would play a lot better too knowing theres no player in front of them that can make a mistake at any second. Like Fred, he might not be the best ball winning midfielder, although I still rate Frenkie higher. And in all other areas, he definitely outshines him and especially in the attacking department he would bring a lot to this team.