Barcelona finalizes the transfer of Memphis Depay to Atlético

Depay, in his last game with the Barcelona shirt against Intercity in the Copa del Rey. JOSE JORDAN (AFP)

Memphis Depay finalizes his goodbye to Barcelona.

The Barcelona club has reached this Wednesday morning an agreement in principle with Atlético de Madrid for the transfer of the Dutch striker.

"They are finishing polishing the fringes," reported Barcelona.

The Madrid entity, for its part, assured: “It is very close.

We're going forward".

Still, in any case, according to Barça's sports management, the amount that the Catalan club will receive for the transfer of the Dutch striker is being negotiated.

"It won't be much," they explain in the offices of the Ciudad Deportiva azulgrana, who expect to enter close to three million euros.

According to the same sources, the player will sign for two and a half seasons with the rojiblanca entity.

Atlético sources assure that it will be this Thursday when the definitive agreement can be announced.

In the meantime,

Barcelona released Depay.

In fact, the Dutchman did not show up for training this Wednesday afternoon prior to the duel against Ceuta in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey.

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Xavi's claim

In the summer of 2021, Memphis arrived at Barcelona at zero cost.

At a time, prior to the levers that Joan Laporta's board of directors activated last summer (sale of assets), in which the Barça club could not invest in transfers.

The Dutchman, from the outset, caught the Camp Nou.

Back then, it wasn't very difficult.

The Barcelona fans were still processing the as thunderous as surprising farewell of Lionel Messi from Barcelona.

In his first 15 games in the League, Depay signed eight goals and two assists.

But the injuries conditioned the regularity of the striker.

He missed 29 games as a result of four different injuries, the last one in the run-up to the World Cup in Qatar.

In Barcelona they complained about how Memphis managed the injury last September.

The player stretched his comeback to the maximum and asked permission to continue his rehabilitation in his country.

In fact, he reappeared in Qatar with his team.

Xavi, for his part, had already stopped counting on the Dutchman.

Of the five games that Barça played after Qatar, Memphis only participated in the Cup game against Intercity (75 minutes).

The Barça coach, however, did not complain about Depay in public: “He is a professional.

He is a positive guy and he is our player ”.

In total, Memphis played 42 games with the Barcelona jersey (14 goals and two assists).

Last summer, Barcelona tried to transfer Depay.

Juventus was following in the footsteps of the former Manchester United striker.

However, Aubameyang went to Chelsea in exchange for 12 million and the club was forced to retain the Dutchman, whose contract with Barça expired next June.

In the sports management of Barcelona they are now working on a striker to replace Memphis.

Xavi had already made it clear: “I have already said that I don't want anyone to leave.

I'm happy with the squad I have, but if someone asks to leave, you have to make up for the loss.

I am not going to give names because we are focused on the final, but if someone wants to leave, they must replace this possible loss ”.

Depay arrives at an Atlético in need of strikers and goals after the transfer of Matheus Cunha to Wolverhampton and the transfer of João Félix to Chelsea.

The question is the fit that it can have in the system of Diego Pablo Simeone.

He is not a player sacrificed to carry out the defensive work that the Argentine coach demands from the forwards.

The best version of him, in his time in Lyon, occurred when the team played for him.

He is not a footballer who attacks spaces frequently nor is he a counterattack specialist.

However, Atlético sources say that from the outset the coach was aligned with the club in hiring him.

Above all, Simeone expects goals from him and that he offers him variants to improve his team's attack against rivals that give him the weight of the matches.

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