Memphis Depay’s first season as a FC Barcelona player has been, to say the least, strange. The Dutch international, who arrived at the Camp Nou to be Leo Messi’s new squire, saw how the Argentine star headed to Paris Saint-Germain before they could even share a minute on the pitch. “The season didn’t turn out as I expected beforehand. Messi left, something I didn’t expect either. It affected the club a lot”Memphis himself has recognized in an interview for the Dutch media NOS, concentrated with the team led by Louis van Gaal ahead of the national team matches that will be played in the UEFA Nations League. Even so, he started the course scoring 2 goals in his first three games and assuming stripes as the new leader in attack of the Blaugrana team.
But then came the physical problems: “I was injured at a bad time, I was very unhappy and it took me a long time to play again. Then I trained hard, kept my mouth shut and showed that I am better.”. Injuries weighed down the Dutchman for much of the season, also coinciding with the arrival of players like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ferran Torres and Adama Traoré in the winter market, which caused Memphis to lose space and prominence in Xavi’s plans Hernandez. His lack of minutes, added to the bad economic situation that the culé team is going through, They placed the former Olympique Lyonnais player in all the pools to leave Barcelona in the next summer transfer market. However, Memphis is clear about its future.
“Fortunately I had my chance again, I scored again. What if I want to stay? Yes”answered emphatically in NOS. And it is that, despite all the obstacles that he has encountered along the way, Memphis Depay has finished the season tied on 13 points as the Gabonese attacker: “I finished the season as the top scorer even with many injuries. I want to stay at the club and improve this season’s numbers”. The Dutchman, who arrived last summer as a free agent after five seasons in Lyon, still has one year left on his contract with FC Barcelona –until 2023– and, despite the competition, will try to earn a place in front of Xavi Hernandez attack. More so with the departure of Ousmane Dembélé, who will not renew his contract; the end of the loans of Adama Traoré and Luuk de Jong, who will return to Wolverhampton and Sevilla FC respectively, and the possible departure of Martin Braithwaite.