Barcelona left drooling after De Jong puts Madrid to the sword

One of the many 'wow' moments in Ajax performance against Real Madrid on Tuesday night came 10 minutes into the first half.

Twenty-one-year-old Frenkie de Jong clattered shoulder-to-shoulder into Vinicius, came away with the ball at his feet; showed Luka Modric a two-touch shuffle that left him – now, like Vinicius, on the turf – raced 30 feet forward into the Madrid half and just as he was about to be scythed down by either Raphael Varane or the covering Dani Carvajal, released the ball to a team-mate.

The only supporters who enjoyed it more than the Ajax followers were the Barcelona ones. De Jong's Barcelona career couldn't have started any better and he hasn't even worn the shirt yet.

It was not the only time he swerved away from Balon d'Or winner Modric. If he goes on to emulate the achievements of the Croatian in La Liga and on the Champions League stage then this performance will be looked back on as the night he arrived, outperforming one of the greatest ever exponents of the midfield art.

On Tuesday night among the hundreds of Whatsapp messages received after his win at the Bernabeu he spoke with Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu on the phone.

Ajax's loss at the end of the season will be Barcelona's gain this summer. 'I think he will become an important player for many years for us,' Bartomeu told Cadena Ser.

The Catalan club are delighted by the season he is having. The €75million rising to €85m was a huge price to pay for a 21-year-old but already he looks worth every euro as far as Barcelona supporters are concerned.

His confidence was there for all to see, as it had been pre-match in an interview with De Telegraaf. 'If we knockout Madrid we will surprise the whole world and put the name of Ajax back on the map,' he said.

He also revealed: 'Barcelona asked me to eliminate Real Madrid when I signed.'

He had done his job – mission accomplished and this was against one of the best midfield's in world football – the Casemiro-Toni Kroos-Modric triology that has dominated the Champions League for the last three seasons. Fleet-footed De Jong left them all behind.

He looks intelligent enough to eventually replace Sergio Busquets in the holding position but even more encouragingly for Barcelona he looks capable, in the more immediate future, of playing alongside Busquets as one of Barcelona's other three midfielders.

Watching him it is easier to understand why the club believe that as brilliant as Ivan Rakitic has been once again this season, if a club were to pay a huge fee for the Croatian international, selling Rakitic could be a way of bringing in extra funds without doing real damage to the team.

Having seen this young Ajax side destroy Madrid what many Barcelona fans now want to see is De Jong's pal Matthijs de Ligt also signed his summer.

Bartomeu sidestepped the question when it was last put to him. 'It is something to talk about in March,' he said. 'In the case of De Jong we got ahead of the game, in March we will plan next season.'

De Ligt has already said he wants to join De Jong. As things stand Barcelona cannot afford him.

They do have De Jong though, and in his first 90 minutes under the lights of the Bernabeu, he showed he's worth it. He will be presented this summer, but as of March 5, he has already arrived in Spain