Former Barcelona technical chief Eric Abidal has recalled how they burned off competition from PSG to land Frenkie de Jong.

Barca signed De Jong towards the end of the 2018/19 season from Ajax.

Abidal told L'Equipe: "We then decided to play our card to the fullest. Frenkie loved our project but he had the feeling that, due to his young age, he would not have much playing time at Barca.

"Thomas Tuchel had told him that he would start in Paris. I think it's difficult to guarantee that to a player, but it can be a way of convincing him. So we decided to go to Amsterdam, the president (Josep Maria Bartomeu), the CEO (Oscar Grau), the general manager (Pep Segura), Ramon Planes (deputy technical secretary) and me.

"We wanted to show him that it was not the sports director who wanted to sign him, but the institution. I told him: 'In my experience, a club that invests so much money in a player is not to leave him on the bench'."