• Setien. "We would have needed one more week of training"

Dutch Barcelona player Frenkie De Jong said he is learning a lot at the Barça club, especially from Argentina's Lionel Messi, who said that "if he gives you advice, you have to listen to him."

In an interview with the BBC Radio 5 Live radio station Euro Football Podcast , the midfielder reviewed the situation of his team before the resumption of the Spanish LaLiga and his feelings in the first year as a Barça player.

"If he (Messi) is talking to you and gives you advice, you have to listen to him because he is by far the best player in the world . If he gives you advice, you just listen. Sometimes he tells you that you have to be deeper or stand on the outside. They are small things, but they make the difference, "he revealed.

In his first season as a Barça player, the midfielder has mainly occupied the indoor position, playing with a scheme of three midfielders, with a different role than when he played in his country. "At Ajax and in the Netherlands team I had a different role because we played with a double six (with a double pivot)," he said.

In this sense, he admitted that the adaptation is being positive, although he specified that he can still improve: "I play better when I am not the most defensive midfielder, but neither is I the most offensive ."

Regarding the return of the LaLiga Santander, he assured that the training in recent weeks is being intense and that "perhaps" the Barça team is "better" than before the break due to the coronavirus pandemic. "The training sessions are intense and perhaps we are better than when we stopped . I feel that there is something special to come," said the Netherlands international.

At one point in the conversation, the former Ajax player elaborated on what his signing for Barcelona was like: "At first I did not have the feeling that Barcelona really loved me, but they told me that I had a good opportunity to start and it was very easy for me. " He pointed out that he does not regret having signed for the Catalan club and highlighted the quality of life he has in Barcelona.

"Sometimes driving to training you see the weather and it is those moments when you think: It is what I have always wanted since I was a child, it is a dream," he added.

In the interview, De Jong recalled the photograph he published a few days ago on his Instagram account in solidarity with the death of African-American George Floyd in the United States. In it you could see an image of the celebration of a goal he made with his team-mate Georginio Wijnaldum joining arms in a match against Estonia in 2019.

"It is very sad that things like this continue to happen," he said, referring to Floyd's death from police violence, stressing that sport can have "an important role" in the fight against racism.

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