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Luuk de Jong joined Barcelona on loan from Sevilla as per Ronald Koeman's request this summer. The tactician has now revealed one particular area where the Dutch striker is more dangerous than Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar.
Koeman explained:
"When there's a cross coming in, Luuk de Jong is more dangerous than Neymar. He's a different kind of forward to what we have and I think all teams should have one like him. I told the club last year. I wanted to be able to change my forwards. If the game calls for someone like Luuk, then he'll play."
He added:
"We lost Antoine Griezmann on the last day of the window and only had three forwards. I first made contact with Luuk on August 8 and, even before that, I wondered why Barcelona didn't have a guy like that."
Barcelona lured Luuk de Jong to Camp Nou from fellow La Liga outfit Sevilla this summer. The Dutch forward will provide some attacking options to the Catalan giants until the end of the season.
The likes of Philippe Coutinho, Ansu Fati, Sergio Aguero, Ousmane Dembele and Martin Braithwaite are all battling fitness issues at the moment. The injury list prompted Ronald Koeman to request a new forward and Luuk de Jong was selected because of his aerial abilities.
How Barcelona's attack has fared so far this season
Even after the departure of Lionel Messi this summer, Barcelona continue to be one of the best attacking teams in La Liga. Blaugrana have scored in all three of their matches in the Spanish top flight so far and currently rank fourth in the table.
Ronald Koeman's men earned a big victory in their first league game of the campaign, beating Real Sociedad 4-2 at Camp Nou. They followed it up with a 1-1 draw against Real Betis before defeating Getafe 2-1 in their last fixture.
Recent signing Memphis Depay has been the leader of the forward line, bagging two goals and one assist in three appearances. Martin Braithwaite follows, with the same number of goals and assists. Gerard Pique and Sergi Roberto have also scored for Barcelona this season.
