Barcelona superstar delighted with captaincy responsibility: “It’s an honour”

Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong has claimed that it is an honour for him to be named as one of the club captains ahead of the new season and that he is very happy about the added responsibility.

The Blaugrana announced their four captains a couple of weeks ago and de Jong, who had been close to leaving the club a year ago, is now among the four players to be donning the armband for the 2023/24 campaign.

De Jong will be Barça’s fourth captain, behind Sergi Roberto, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and Ronald Araujo.

Speaking about this new role after landing in Las Vegas, the Dutch midfield maestro said (h/t Mundo Deportivo):

“It’s an honour to be one of the captains of this club. I’m very happy about it.”

Barcelona will be playing their final game of the USA pre-season tour later tonight when they take on AC Milan in Vegas.

And de Jong hoped for a repeat of last year’s result at the arena, when the La Liga champions had defeated rivals Real Madrid 1-0 in a friendly.

“People are very happy to see us here and we are very happy to be back with them. Last year we played a spectacular game in Las Vegas. I hope it will be the same tomorrow,” the Netherlands international stated.

Looking at Barcelona’s opponents on the night, AC Milan, de Jong added: “We have trained very hard this pre-season and we are ready for the game against Milan, who are a great team. They reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last year.”

De Jong’s appointment as captain also put to rest the rumours of Barcelona still being open to selling him if big offers came along.

Without a doubt, the midfielder is set to play a critical role in Xavi’s plans.