Frenkie de Jong came off the bench in the 70th minute at Spotify Camp Nou on Tuesday night, and by the final whistle the Netherlands midfielder had walked into Barcelona’s record book. The 3-0 Champions League win over Aston Villa was his 300th appearance for the club. He replaced Pedri in the 70th minute.

Days later, with the number still fresh, he sat down with Spanish newspaper Marca. The question, as it has been for most of 2026, was less about his football than about the noise around it.

“I feel that there is always more noise around me compared to the others,” the 29-year-old told Marca, in comments reported by Mundiario.

He paired the complaint with a positive report on his own condition. He said he felt strong, enthusiastic and motivated, that there was no problem in the knee that disrupted large chunks of last season, and that the past was the past.

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A number no other Dutch player has reached in Barcelona colours

The 300 figure put him well clear of his compatriots on the club’s all-time list. Barcelona’s official account of the milestone has him leading the Dutch chart ahead of Philip Cocu on 292 and Ronald Koeman on 264, with a commemorative “F. de Jong 300” shirt produced for the occasion.

Flashscore’s record of those 300 games shows 20 goals and 29 assists since his move from Ajax in 2019.

Where the “noise” comes from

De Jong’s irritation with the Spanish media did not surface for the first time at the Marca sit-down. In an earlier interview with Barça Play, he named journalist Gerard Romero as a repeat source of what he called false claims about him, singling out the story that he had refused to play against Atlético Madrid.

“It’s not true. It simply didn’t happen,” De Jong said of that claim, as reported by Yahoo Sports. He also rejected the story that his working relationship with head coach Hansi Flick had broken down.

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The Marca interview this week did not revisit those accusations by name. It did pick up the same thread, that he feels watched more closely, and judged more loudly, than any teammate at a club where his contract and his position are permanent subjects of rumour.

Barcelona’s next fixture takes De Jong back to the opponent at the centre of Romero’s story. Flick’s side travel to the Metropolitano on Sunday, 8 November, to face Atlético Madrid in La Liga.

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