Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong alongside his female counterpart Aitana Bonmati have won the Barça Players Award for 2020/21, as selected by the FC Barcelona Players Group in recognition of the most sporting male and female player of the previous season.
Lionel Messi despite winning the La Liga best player of the season wasn’t named the Barcelona best player for the 2020/2021 season as FC Barcelona vice-president, Rafael Yuste, and Barça Player Group president, Ramon Alfonseda, announced De Jong and Bonmati as winners on Tuesday.
According to FC Barcelona, the jury gathered on Tuesday at Camp Nou to make their decision on the basis of votes cast by more than 5,000 fans around the world. Those votes singled out Messi, De Jong, Ter Stegen and Martens, Alèxia and Aitana as the finalists.
Frenkie De Jong (the Netherlands, 1996) is honoured on his commitment to FC Barcelona and the city since joining the club in the summer of 2019, and his readiness to play in a variety of different positions when called upon.
Aitana Bonmati (Pere de Ribes, 1998) was rewarded for her constant improvement and the example she sets for future generations of women footballers. Here words on winning the Champions League, where she was viewed as the best player in the final, and where her belief in the team and sheer commitment shown ever since she entered La Masia, were also highlighted.
Frenkie de Jong signed up for the Catalan side from Ajax after the 2019 UEFA champions league and has been among the starting 11 for the club since then.
Despite the difficulties faced by the Catalan side amidst the team’s early departure from the champions league this, season, FC Barcelona vice-president Rafael Yuste and the president of the ABJ, Ramon Alfonseda, also congratulated the team on their attitude throughout a season without fans in the stadium and with all kinds of other unusual difficulties to overcome.
