The gift that keeps on giving?
It’s amazing how Atlético de Madrid keep making the most of Barça’s necessity to sell players, particularly strikers.
The latest addition is non other than Memphis Depay, who’ll join Atleti for €3M plus €1M in variables. A deal that includes an option to buy Yannick Ferreira Carrasco next summer for €15M if Barça decide they want him, according to Gerard Romero.
It’s important to keep in mind that Carrasco’s contract ends in the summer of 2024, so it would be a reasonable sum of money to get for him.
Memphis, on the other hand, is an extraordinary deal for los colchoneros taking into account they urgently needed someone to replace João Félix. With the Portuguese player having to abandon ship due to the turbulent relationship with Diego Pablo Simeone and given Atleti couldn't afford to spend much on another striker, it doesn’t get much better than signing Memphis.
Barça do lose a valuable asset, even though the Dutchman didn’t really have an important role under Xavi. But it does feel risky to depend solely on Robert Lewandowski up front. Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres can occasionally play a similar role, yet neither are finding consistent form.
However, Barça’s economy comes first and it’s well known that their financial situation is still critical, so whatever can be done to reduce the wage bill is always more than welcome. Memphis has a gross salary of €11M so they’ll have saved up €5.5M as well as receiving a little extra on top.
Only you’d think that after how Atleti handled the Griezmann situation, Barça would think two, three and even four times before closing a deal with them. Because let’s not forget that at the start of the season Atleti were playing Griezmann 30 minutes per match just to avoid having to pay off the €40M they’d originally agreed on, despite receiving €135M for him 3 years earlier. In the end Barça felt forced to renegotiate, settling on €20M shortly before seeing Griezmann shine again for los rojiblancos, as well as for France in the World Cup, and just maybe regretting having succumbed to Atleti’s extortion.
Barely three months later Mateu Alemany has welcomed them back into his office, ignoring what had recently taken place and forgetting how we’d aided them in the past. When we gifted David Villa who helped them win their first league title in 18 years, precisely at the Camp Nou. A formula that would repeat itself with Luis Suárez, guiding Atleti to another title. But I guess business is business…
To be fair the Memphis deal isn’t a bad one for Barça, given the footballer could’ve left for free at the end of the season, tempted by a juicy signing bonus from another club. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dutchman turns out to be a key player for Atleti and even scores next April in his visit to the Camp Nou.