Barcelona transfer target Memphis Depay has talked up his interest in a move to the club following the Netherlands’ 1-1 draw with Spain on Wednesday evening.
Depay is said to be Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman‘s number one target. “The transfer market is not open,” the forward said after the game with quotes carried by Mundo Deportivo. “I’m trying to do my best, to put in good performances and become a better player. There’s a lot of speculation about it.
“Who wouldn’t want to play [at Barcelona]? It’s one of the best teams in the world. Everyone would like it, but I’m not thinking about that.”
🇳🇱🗣 Memphis Depay (@Memphis), sobre la posibilidad de fichar por el Barcelona: "A quien no le gustaría. Es un club top. Hay muchos equipos tops en el mundo, pero ellos son uno de los más grandes."#LaSeleccionDeNuestraVida
📺 https://t.co/JR6hmuzLAN pic.twitter.com/IbGhTHucRe
— Teledeporte (@teledeporte) November 11, 2020
That morning, in a wide-ranging interview, Koeman talked up Depay’s ability. He knows him having coached him with the Netherlands, his job before he joined Barcelona.
“First of all, it’s not the time to talk about players who aren’t here,” he said. “For me that isn’t good. It’s true that his name has come out and he has played every game as a nine for my Dutch team. Everyone can have their opinion, but he’s not here [at Barcelona] and we will see what will happen in the future.”
Depay is 26. The Lyon forward has five goals and three assists from ten Ligue Un appearances so far this season and would offer Barcelona a different kind of threat to lead the line from the number nine position.
Depay has played for Lyon since 2017 after a brief spell with Manchester United. Before that, he broke through at PSV Eindhoven, the club he joined aged 12 and spent nine years with.
Antoine Griezmann has struggled to settle in at Barcelona since joining from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2019, and has scored just two goals in seven league appearances thus far in 2020/21. Should Depay join, he would be his competition for that central striker role.
Barcelona are currently eighth in LaLiga, nine points behind league leaders Real Sociedad and five clear of bottom-placed Huesca. Next up for the Azulgrana following the international break is a key trip to Atleti’s Wanda Metropolitano to face Cholo Simeone’s lean and mean Rojiblanco outfit.
Featured image courtesy of AS.
