Memphis had nothing left to offer. Ironically, his departure to Atlético is a win for Barcelona

He agreed to move to Barcelona to fill the hole left by Lionel Messi’s departure. Memphis Depay came for free on a low wage and helped the Catalan big club when they really needed it. He has now played his first minutes in an Atlético Madrid jersey.

Memphis Depay came to Barcelona in July 2021 from Lyon as a free agent. During his time at the club, he played a total of 2701 minutes in 42 matches. He scored 14 goals and assisted two. In addition, he earned four yellow cards. In addition, the Dutch striker struggled with injuries and missed 29 games.

Atlético Madrid have now reacquired a quality player from Barcelona for an extremely low price. The Rojiblancos used their leverage and the strength of Memphis’ contract to complete this cheap transfer. Truly another clever piece in their transfer business.

Many may argue that Barcelona regularly give away their players to Madrid almost for free. David Villa, Luis Suárez, Antoine Griezmann and this time Memphis. On the other hand, Barça made €10 million in financial fair play from his departure:: 3+1 per transfer and a salary of around €6-7 million.

In addition, it reserves a 20 million purchase option for the coming summer if it wants to buy Yannick Carrasco. At first, this operation may be judged as bad by Catalan fans, but it should be looked at differently. Atleti are not their direct rivals at the moment.

Barcelona received at least some money for a disgruntled player whose contract was ending in the summer, freeing up their wage budget. Let’s say again that the Dutchman came for free to Barcelona, in the context of his play and especially when playing with four midfielders, he was useless in Xavi’s team.

Of course, the club doesn’t need anyone as his replacement, which would be an unnecessary luxury. Ansu Fati or possibly Ferran Torres can play on the spearhead for Robert Lewandowski. Memhpis is still an interesting player whose main problem is that he is not a pure number nine or a pure winger.

He doesn’t offer a steady twenty goals a season or an effective dribbler. He has a bit of a hybrid profile like Griezmann. Without an ideal position in Xavi’s current system, his departure was inevitable.

Source: Twitter