De Jong blames Netherlands national team doctors for worsening his injury

Barcelona officially announced De Jong's medial collateral ligament tear in his right knee. According to COPE reporter Victor Navarro, De Jong attributes the worsening of his injury to the Dutch national team's medical staff.

De Jong's situation is complex because it recalls last summer's Ter Stegen case. At that time, there was debate over whether Ter Stegen's injury qualified as long-term absence. Ter Stegen claimed recovery would be brief, while Barcelona preferred a long-term absence designation to register replacement players like Joan García. Is this situation similar?

No, not at all. According to club sources, the situations are completely different. With Ter Stegen, Barcelona felt he was challenging the club because he publicly stated he would miss only three months, ruling out long-term absence classification.

It was eventually confirmed as long-term absence—Barcelona's medical department assessed it would exceed four months. An absence exceeding four months qualifies as long-term, allowing temporary deregistration and signing a replacement player in any position.

De Jong's case is different. He primarily blames Dutch national team doctors, claiming they told him his World Cup injury was minor. Upon returning to Barcelona for further examination, the injury proved far more serious. He made clear this was entirely the Dutch medical team's responsibility.

Barcelona's official announcement today and De Jong's statement notably avoid specifying a recovery timeline. De Jong said he fortunately doesn't need surgery, though Barcelona hasn't ruled it out. The club stated only that he will receive conservative treatment under continuous monitoring. Barcelona will assess his condition weekly.

If conservative treatment proves ineffective or his body doesn't respond as expected, surgery will be recommended—as most doctors would for this injury type. Surgery would mean five to six months absence, qualifying as long-term absence. Under current conservative treatment, the theoretical recovery is three to four months, which would not constitute long-term absence.

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