Flick Strips De Jong of Captaincy, Hands It to Raphinha

Reports have revealed that the decision to temporarily withdraw the captaincy from Frenkie de Jong and hand it to Raphinha was made directly by Barcelona's head coach Hans Flick, rather than by the club's management.

According to reports, Flick was not pleased with De Jong's behavior after he participated in three matches with his national team despite struggling with an injury, before taking a break and returning to Barcelona for medical examinations.

Frenkie de Jong has emerged as the leading candidate to take over the captaincy at Barcelona after the departures of Marc-André ter Stegen and Ronald Araújo, especially since he was the team's third captain last season.

However, Flick's decision to hand the armband to Raphinha has changed the order of captains within the team, with the Brazilian star now leading the squad, followed by De Jong in second, and then Pedri and Eric Garcia.

The Dutch star is recovering from a knee injury and is expected to be sidelined for an extended period. It is noteworthy that the player is rejecting the idea of undergoing surgery and is relying on conservative treatment.