Memphis Depay has fiercely refuted claims that he is purposefully postponing his recovery from an injury to prioritize his World Cup readiness on social media.
The Barcelona attacker, who is still recovering from an hamstring injury, also charged that the Spanish media was “building a negative narrative” about him.
The 28-year-old was outraged by the allegations, and he had no choice but to respond to them in front of his 2.5 million Twitter followers.
Depay wrote on Tweeter: “Hearing some disrespectful rumors about me purposely slowing down my injury.”
“The media sharing things so easy without actually knowing the facts which as end result creates a negative narrative around my name! Don’t ever disrespect my professionalism!”
Depay has been out since he sustained the muscle injury during Holland’s 2-0 victory over Poland in the Nations League in September, despite an earlier evaluation indicating that he should recover in ‘four to five weeks’.
Depay hasn’t returned yet and doesn’t have a scheduled return date, though.
As a result, there are those at Barcelona who are persuaded that Depay’s delayed return is due to the forward’s desire to arrive at the World Cup in top form, according to reports from the Spanish publication AS.
Six weeks after the event, Depay still has no expectations on when he’ll return, according to AS, who stated the initial prognosis indicated he should have recovered in no more than five weeks.
The Catalan team has accepted that Depay won’t play in their final two LaLiga matches against Almeria and Osasuna before the commencement of the tournament in Qatar.
Due to his decline in the Camp Nou hierarchy, the forward has only made two LaLiga games and three overall this season.
Given that Holland didn’t make the tournament in 2018, Depay has been one of the team’s most crucial players in recent years. He will be eager to compete in Qatar.
The 28-year-old is only eight goals behind former Arsenal and Man United striker Robin van Persie in the race to become the country’s all-time leading scorer.
Senegal will be the opponent for Holland’s opening World Cup match on November 21. In Group A, they are joined by Qatar, the host nation, and Ecuador.
Memphis Depay
Memphis Depay, simply known as Memphis, is a Dutch professional footballer who plays forward for La Liga team Barcelona and the Netherlands national team. He was born on February 13, 1994.
Memphis made his professional debut with PSV Eindhoven, where, thanks to manager Phillip Cocu, he quickly established himself as a key member of the squad and amassed 50 goals in 124 games across all competitions.
With 22 goals in 30 games in the 2014–15 season, he led the Eredivisie and contributed to the team’s first Eredivisie championship since 2008.
For his efforts during the season, he was also named the Dutch Footballer of the Year. His accomplishments have earned him the distinction of being voted the “Best Young Player” in the world by France Football in 2015.
Memphis reportedly cost £25 million to join English team Manchester United in June 2015.
He spent a short amount of time there before joining Lyon in January 2017. He moved to Barcelona in 2021 on a free transfer after spending four seasons there.
When is the FIFA World Cup Starting?
The FIFA Men’s World Cup will hold its 22nd edition in November and December of 2022, breaking with long-standing convention to hold the tournament in June and July to correspond with the European club offseason.
Due to Qatar’s host country’s high heat, the competition was finally moved.
The competition will be the second World Cup held in the Asian Football Confederation following the 2002 World Cup held in South Korea and Japan, making it the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East.
On Sunday, November 20, host nation Qatar will officially start off the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
