Netherlands midfielder Frenkie de Jongs prodigious talent has already earned him a 75 million euro ($91.90 million) move to Barcelona and excelling at the European Championship is next on his agenda. At 24, the silky playmaker is beginning to emerge as a world talent of the future, a pretender to Lionel Messi’s role at the Catalan club and already the kingpin for the Dutch team. Amid all the turmoil at Barca this season, he has taken a giant step, assuming much more responsibility and also proving to be a lot more attacking in his approach, while at the same time reinforcing his reputation for passing and defending. "Messi told Frenkie that he is a fantastic player," Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman told Dutch media earlier this month. "He becomes happy around a player like Frenkie, because he wants to have pure football players around him." Despite Barcas Copa del Rey success, where De Jong was the star of the final win over Athletic Bilbao, it has not been a happy campaign for the Catalans, leaving Euro 2020 as a forum for De Jong to finish the season on a high note. "If you go to a tournament with the qualities that we have, then you have to go to win," De Jong said at the end of the qualifiers, where the Netherlands went through by finishing second in their group behind neighbors Germany. "We are not a top favorite and I don’t know if there is one at all. France are said to stand out a bit, but I think there are about six countries that have a good chance." The Netherlands are one of those six teams, he added. "I do not think we are inferior to other countries, but we are not much better either. It’s very close." De Jong is going to need the best of his extensive list of qualities to drive the Netherlands through the tournament but will not be short of the confidence to do so. He has long been earmarked for glory, moving from Willem II Tilburg to Ajax Amsterdam just past his 18th birthday. In his breakthrough 2018-19 season he was named Dutch Footballer of the Year and helped Ajax to an unlikely Champions League semi-final, after which Barcelona came calling. His international debut was in late 2018 and he has since collected 25 caps.