Frenkie de Jong’s long recovery from a knee ligament injury remains one of the defining subplots of FC Barcelona’s early season, and there is finally some encouraging movement to report. According to MARCA, the Dutch midfielder’s evolution is following the prudent timetable set by the club, and the current plan is for him to rejoin the squad once the international break concludes. Crucially, De Jong still has no fixed date for his return.
MARCA, publishing on 22 September 2026, describes his progress as correct while stressing that the medical staff are working with maximum caution. That framing matters: this is a club and press outlet managing expectations rather than issuing a firm comeback confirmation, a distinction worth holding onto given how much attention De Jong’s knee injury has drawn since the summer.
The plan, per MARCA, is to gradually increase De Jong’s physical load over the coming days, including some sessions in which he begins touching the ball again, before folding him into full group training after the break. Barcelona’s caution stems partly from fear of a relapse or setback, and partly from the reality that De Jong has gone many months without competitive rhythm, meaning any reintegration will be deliberately staged rather than immediate. Separately, SPORT has reported that De Jong has already resumed individual ball work at moderate intensity, though that detail sits outside MARCA’s account and should be treated as a parallel report rather than confirmation.
The injury itself, a tear to the internal ligament of his knee, was sustained last summer during the World Cup. De Jong opted for conservative treatment rather than surgery, a call some voices inside Barcelona reportedly questioned, but one that Hansi Flick and the club ultimately accepted and supported. MARCA characterises the recovery as slow but currently on schedule.
A clean return would hand Flick another genuine option in a midfield that has managed without him for much of the campaign, as recent squad selections have shown. Even so, De Jong’s path back into the XI won’t be straightforward given the depth already established by Pedri, Rodri, Bernal and Gavi, and MARCA’s report stops well short of naming any date for his actual return to competitive action.
