Frenkie de Jong's Warning to Journalist Gerard Romero

Frenkie de Jong has broken his silence – and he has done it with names, details and a clear warning.

In a forthright interview with Barcelona’s club media, the Dutch midfielder directly accused journalist Gerard Romero of spreading “false” stories about him and said he will publicly challenge any similar reports from now on.

De Jong, who has clashed with sections of the press before, focused on a specific claim from Romero: that he refused to play for Barcelona in a Champions League match against Atletico last season.

“For example, Gerard Romero. He said, and he started all of this, that I refused to play against Atletico in the Champions League last year. That’s false. It’s false. It’s simply not true,” De Jong said.

He then laid out exactly why that accusation cut so deep.

“As I said, my dream is to play for Barca, especially in important Champions League matches. Of course I want to play. I don’t understand how you can say that I refused to play. And obviously, if people get angry and if that’s the only information they have, I understand. That’s why I’m explaining.”

The midfielder didn’t stop there. Once he opened the door, he went after a series of narratives that have followed him for months.

Romero, De Jong claimed, has also pushed the idea that his relationship with the coach is fractured. De Jong dismissed that outright.

“Then he said that my relationship with the coach is very bad, which is completely false. I have a very good relationship with the coach. I talk to him a lot. You can ask him about all of this. It’s completely false.”

The same goes, he insisted, for his standing inside the club.

“They’ve also said that my relationship with the club is bad, which is also not true, because I talk a lot with people at the club, with the directors and so on. Then they said I’m being punished. That was Gerard Romero again, and I want to mention it because I think he’s already told more lies in the past.”

The pressure finally told. De Jong made it clear he has reached his limit.

“But I’m not going to let it slide anymore, because he needs to understand that if he puts things out that aren’t true, I’m going to call him out on it.”

Away from the media storm, the 27-year-old is still battling a knee injury. He admitted part of this outburst comes from a desire to clear his head while he works on his recovery, saying he wanted to “get that anger off his chest” so he can focus fully on returning to the pitch as quickly as possible.

For Barcelona, the message is double-edged: a key midfielder fighting to get fit, and a senior dressing-room voice publicly drawing a line with one of the most prominent reporters around the club.