FC Barcelona sees a priority signing a '9' and the Dutchman from Lyon, who likes Ronald Koeman a lot, wins whole
There are no negotiations underway but, with a contract until 2021, it would be much cheaper than the Argentine
While working to accelerate the exit operation of transferable players such as Luis Suárez , Arturo Vidal and Samuel Umtiti, the latter case being more difficult due to the lack of suitors, FC Barcelona has set itself as a priority objective to have a new center forward to cover the team as soon as possible. vacancy that the Uruguayan will leave. And that is where in recent days the figure of Memphis Depay , '9' of Olympique Lyon and the Dutch team, has emerged with force , who knows Ronald Koeman very well after having trained him for more than a year in the 'oranje' team since September 2018.
26-year-old Depay likes the new Barça coach very much and has advanced Lautaro Martínez on the list of candidates . Some media already took the agreement with Lyon for granted, even talking about figures (25 million euros) of the transfer but from FC Barcelona , as Mundo Deportivo has learned , some first contacts are allowed, although negotiations with him have not yet begun semifinalist of the last Champions League . Depay's soccer virtues fit in with what Koeman wants for his plan at the Camp Nouand its contractual conditions are another point that elevate the options of its hiring. The Dutchman is free in Lyon in 2021 and the cost of the operation would be much lower than that of Lautaro Martínez .
In the case of the 23-year-old Argentine striker, Barça had a preliminary agreement with him but the economic context derived from the coronavirus crisis and Inter Milan's little predisposition to negotiate a transfer below the 111 million clause it had until mid-July it caused the talks to stop. The Barcelona president himself, Josep Maria Bartomeu , publicly admitted this in several interviews.
A lot of versatility
Depay has a profile somewhat similar to that of Lautaro as he is not a reference '9' but has more versatility to occupy other areas of the attack if necessary. The Dutchman exploded at the beginning as a left winger, although playing with a changed leg, he was compared to Arjen Robben , who also left his mark on PSV Eindhoven . The current goal of Barça won the signing for Manchester United in 2015 after dazzling the Philips club, scoring 22 goals and being the top scorer in the 2014-15 Eredivisie with Phillip Cocu , a good friend of Koeman, as a technician. Louis van Gaal was then the manager of United , who paid 35 million and beat Arsenal , Liverpool and PSG , now also on Depay's suitors list .
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