Memphis Depay, seventh in striking pecking order at Barcelona
The Dutchman is already behind Raphinha, Dembélé, Ferran, Ansu, Aubameyang and Lewandowski and the striker will need to play first team football with the World Cup looming.
Despite his complicated situation at FC Barcelona, Memphis Depay is managing to retain his sense of humour as Barça TV cameras caught him smiling over the weekend as he joked with teammate Frenkie de Jong on the flight to the United States. Everything points to the striker’s time at Camp Nou coming to an abrupt end just a year after he arrived last year full of enthusiasm and possibly realism. Perhaps the forward was aware that Ronald Koeman would not last long as he signed a two year deal with the Catalan outfit as a free agent.
Seventh in pecking order
Memphis, Barça’s top scorer last season, is now the seventh striker in the Barça squad. He’s only ahead of Braithwaite, with the Dane not even travelling to Miami. Depay is behind Raphinha, Dembélé, Ferran, Ansu, Aubameyang and newcomer Robert Lewandowski which leads to the conclusion that the striker is heading for the exit door at the club.
The Catalan club would hope to command approximately 20 million euro for the striker, with Depay under pressure to secure regular first team football with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar on the horizon. It’s expected that Xavi will give him playing time on the forthcoming US tour with the player showing exemplary professional behavior last season in which, paradoxically, he was instrumental in Koeman getting the chop after he missed a penalty in Vallecas with the defeat against Rayo the final straw for club president Joan Laporta.