Will he make it for the Clásico? October test to determine Frenkie de Jong's return date with Barcelona
Barcelona face a run of tough matches
Frenkie de Jong, aged 29, continues to recover from the injury he sustained at the start of September, but his return is not imminent. Estimates suggest the 29-year-old will not be fully fit before October, provided pain or a setback does not halt the recovery programme.
According to the Spanish newspaper "Mundo Deportivo", the Dutchman tore the medial collateral ligament of his right knee during the World Cup. Barcelona officially confirmed the diagnosis on 23 July, though the information reaching Hansi Flick's coaching staff points to the injury occurring during one of the Dutch national team's training sessions, around 16 June.
Word of the injury came late because his country's national team doctors gave him an incorrect diagnosis, which led him to keep playing. On top of that, after his World Cup ended on 30 June, he did not join Barcelona's training sessions but instead spent two weeks on holiday in Ibiza.
Barcelona therefore did not learn the true severity for a long time, with the Catalan club's first accurate diagnosis arriving on 13 July.
Frenkie then chose a conservative treatment to deal with his injury, despite opposition from the club's medical staff, who believed surgery was the better option.
The Catalan club nevertheless respected the midfielder's decision, and the two parties agreed to monitor his progress according to how he felt and his response to the treatment.
Sources from the coaching staff indicate the next date for assessing De Jong's condition will fall after the upcoming international break, which begins on 21 September and ends with the return to league fixtures on 10 or 11 October.
The Dutchman intends to use the period without club fixtures to give the conservative treatment a final push.
By 8 October, Frenkie hopes to be ready to rejoin the group, the date on which his international teammates return to Barcelona's training sessions.
That depends on him feeling better and suffering no further pain in the injured ligament of his right knee. De Jong must also gain a minimum level of match rhythm before returning to the pitch.
Here lies the problem: the opponents awaiting Barcelona after the break are strong. Getafe, Galatasaray, Real Betis, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid in the Clasico scheduled for 25 October will all require Barcelona's players to reach their best physical condition.
Flick will therefore also play an important role in deciding how to handle De Jong's return.
For now, De Jong is doing continuous running work on the pitch in a straight line. He has not yet begun working with the ball or taking part in sessions against other players, so several stages of his conservative treatment programme remain.
