Newcastle old-boy Luuk de Jong’s time at Barcelona has not got off to the best of starts.
He endured a nightmare debut last week when Ronald Koeman’s side were thumped 3-0 on their own patch by Bayern Munich in the opening round of Champions League group matches.
The Dutchman was in La Liga action last night as Barca hosted Granada, in a match they’d be expected to win.
But they could only scrape a late 1-1 draw thanks to a Ronald Araujo equaliser in stoppage time.
On 79 minutes, with Barca chasing an equaliser, a golden opportunity came de Jong’s way.
Memphis Depay swung over a corner but his fellow Dutchman de Jong could only head over from inside the six-yard box.
De Jong’s Barcelona loan has raised some eyebrows and what he really needed was an early goal to take some of the pressure off.
Grabbing the equaliser yesterday would have done exactly that, but he missed a sitter.
That means he’s on the back foot from the start, as Barcelona’s collective struggles continue also.
De Jong’s progress this season may well be of interest to Newcastle fans, and it’s fair to say he’ll be hoping to improve from what we’ve seen so far.
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