“Who the hell recommended Luuk de Jong?” - Barcelona legend Luis Suarez slams club’s decision to sign Dutchman

Former Barcelona star Don Luis Suarez Miramontes has questioned the club's decision to sign an aging Luuk de Jong in the recently concluded summer transfer window.

Luis Suarez, who won the Ballon d'Or back in 1960, has been extremely vocal about the Barcelona hierarchy's decision to sign Luuk de Jong from Sevilla. He said:

“Who the hell recommended Luuk de Jong to Barcelona?”

Many former La Liga players disapprove of Barcelona's decision to sign an aging Luuk de Jong to cover up for the loss of Lionel Messi and Antonie Griezmann.

One of them is former Real Sociedad and Getafe forward Gheorghe Craioveanu. The 53-year-old does not like the fact that De Jong is now a starter for Barcelona despite being previously used as a substitute at Sevilla.

Craioveanu jokingly said that Luuk de Jong will not even feature for his Universitatea Craiova side. He also believes it will take more than five years for Barcelona to get back to their perch. The former Romania international stated:

"Barça signed a player who, with all due respect to him as he is a Dutch international, but was a substitute for Youssef En-Nesyri at Sevilla. And he was signed as if he was a top player, to be a starter. It doesn’t seem right to me. He wouldn’t play at Craiova, either. He wouldn’t play with me."

"FC Barcelona is not what it used to be, I believe that it will take five or six years to become the team they used to be."

Luuk de Jong was signed from Sevilla on loan with an option to make the move permanent in the summer of 2022. The 31-year-old former Newcastle United forward has so far scored just one goal for Barcelona. The goal came in the Blaugrana's 3-0 win over Levante.

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Barcelona have made a poor start to the new season

Barcelona's off-field problems seem to be causing them issues on the pitch as they have made a disappointing start to the 2021-22 season.

Following their 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid, the Catalan giants are currently ninth in the La Liga table, having picked up just 12 points from their opening seven games.

However, Barcelona's biggest cause for concern is their form in the Champions League. They have lost both of their Champions League games by 3-0 (against Bayern Munich and Benfica) and are currently bottom of their group.

This poor run has heaped pressure on manager Ronald Koeman, who is hanging on to the Barcelona job by the skin of his teeth.