Koeman: Luuk de Jong is more dangerous than Neymar in the centre

Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman knows how to draw attention to himself. He is often not afraid to say what he thinks, and he showed this again in an interview with Cadena NOS. The surprising comparison has caused quite a stir in Spain.

The Dutch coach had to deal with a difficult situation in the summer. He had Lionel Messi leave, as well as Antoine Griezmann on the last day of transfers. Barcelona had to react somehow to these departures and brought in Luuk de Jong, quite surprisingly, who didn’t even belong in Sevilla’s starting line-up.

“Luuk is more dangerous than Neymar when the centre flies into the penalty area,” Koeman began his explanation to the NOS cadena. This comparison has aroused quite a big response in Spain, but considering that de Jong is 188 centimetres tall and Neymar is only 175 centimetres tall, it is not groundbreaking news.

“Luuk is a different type of striker than we have here and I think all teams should have a similar type of striker,” Koeman explained.

“I already hinted it to the club last year. I just want to be able to change my strikers. If the type of game requires Luuk, he will play,” Koeman said of de Jong’s role.

Luuk de Jong made 34 La Liga appearances for Sevilla last season, but only made 14 appearances in the starting lineup, came off the bench 20 times and four times did not get into the game at all. He scored 4 goals, 3 in the Copa del Rey and 2 in the Champions League.

Source: Cadena NOS, Mundo Deportivo, Livesport