Valverde Disappointed In Guardiola Over Frankie de Jong

By Nigel Philips

Ernesto Valverde has expressed disappointment with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola following revelations that the latter phoned Barcelona’s new acquisition Frankie de Jong in an attempt to persuade him to join his club.

Frankie de Jong signed a five-year-deal with Barcelona last week in a deal worth about £65million as the Catalans won the race for the signature of the Ajax ace ahead of Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspurs, and Paris Saint-Germain.

Valverde despite snapping up the player is still livid after finding out Guardiola approached the player personally to try to pursued him to ditch the La Liga champions for Manchester City.

Guardiola's personal contact with De Jong, according to findings, came at a time when the player had announced he was choosing the Catalans over the other suitors.

"You can't talk to a player who is under contract and that's something that isn't in my personal code but suffice to say, everyone has their own way of acting,” said Valverde.

"Everything depends on the performance that De Jong gives in the future and he'll need to adapt despite coming in from a club with a similar philosophy to us at Barcelona.”

"He's young and the club has to look at that but we are incorporating players who are enriching the game and can be important for us.”

Guardiola's approach on De Jong comes few weeks after the Spaniard trainer’s disclosure that it was difficult for other clubs to compete with the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid when pursuing top talent.

“If you are the only one who wants players it’s easy. But if you want one and many, many clubs want him it’s more complicated, especially if it’s Madrid or Barcelona,” he said.

“Normally when you are involved with Madrid and Barcelona you are going to lose. You have to be quicker and more efficient.”