Catalan giants Barcelona are ready to part ways with 28-year-old wantaway attacker Memphis Depay in the January transfer window.
According to a report by Spanish publication AS, Memphis Depay is the foremost candidate to leave Barcelona in the January transfer window. The 28-year-old attacker will be happy to depart from Spotify Camp Nou this coming winter after becoming a peripheral figure under Xavi Hernandez.
Memphis Depay might have joined Barcelona with a lot of hopes and aspirations when he arrived on a Bosman move last year. But the Blaugrana only handing the Dutchman a two-year contract should have been a red flag, as he was only a short-term solution in a time of crisis. And that has been the case, as he is now a peripheral figure for Barcelona.
While the 28-year-old attacker ended 2021/22 as the joint-top scorer for Barcelona, he had already fallen down the pecking order in the second half of the season. And Depay’s fortunes have dwindled further following the arrival of Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha. That is because he has barely featured for Barcelona this season.
While a hamstring injury has played its part in Depay managing only 131 minutes of game time, he was not going to feature prominently for Barcelona anyway. And that is hardly surprising, considering Barcelona wanted to cash in on the Dutch attacker in the summer transfer window.
The player came close to joining Juventus in the window, but a move failed to materialise. And the Serie A heavyweights eventually settled on Arkadiusz Milik instead of the Barcelona outcast. But with Depay’s fortunes barely improving, he has reportedly decided to call it quits at Camp Nou.
Barcelona will not stand in the 28-year-old’s way either, as he is the foremost candidate to leave in January. The Blaugrana will cash in on Depay if they receive an attractive offer for him from a suitor. But the problem for Barcelona is that the player wants to depart as a free agent to recoup a handsome transfer bonus.
While the wantaway attacker does not have a shortage of suitors, particularly from the Premier League, his stance might complicate matters. It will be interesting to see if an interested club offers an attractive sum to Barcelona, thus enabling them to offload Depay. For now, the Dutch international remains focused on excelling for the Netherlands at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
