Barcelona manager, Ronald Koeman will be hoping to sign Lyon winger, Memphis Depay in the coming January transfer window, alongside his Dutch teammate, Georginio Wijnaldum.
The Liverpool midfielder is free to negotiate with other clubs in January as his contracts expires next summer.
The former Netherland coach is has suggested the Catalan club will again try to sign the duo, who were linked with a move to the Camp Nou in the recnetly conclude summer transfer window.
Koeman had said Barca were not financially buoyant to sign the duo due to the effect of COVID-19 on the club’s finances and other outstanding debt that is over 500m Euros.
This reportedly made Barca take some players off their wage bill. According to La Liga, they will still need to sell more to sign Depay. This made the last-minute move to the Camp Nou fail.
Barca can easily swoop for Wijnaldum
Meanwhile, it is believed that Wijnaldum is willing to join his former boss at the Catalan club. He will be able to negotiate with other clubs since he will enter the last six months of his current deal with the Reds in January.
Liverpool on the other hand has not even started any discussion on a contract renewal with him. This could be because of the arrival of Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich.
Speaking with Dutch newspaper AD this weekend, Koeman said the club’s interest in Wijnaldum was separate to Lionel Messi’s future.
“I think our squad could use some depth, especially when we haven’t got the ball.
“Gini has a great sense of space, he can get to the goal fantastically well from midfield, he could really add something to the team.”
On the financial situation of the club, Koeman, who noted that it was kniown to all said it was ultimately less of a priority than, for example, the right-back or the striker position they needed.
He also revealed that Barca wanted Depay because he has qualities that the team lacked, but couldn’t sign him due to the La Liga rule.
“Most attackers at Barcelona want the ball to their feet. Memphis can be used as a target man, but he can also come deep. He is strong, dynamic, and can play centrally as well as from the left.
“In principle everything was ready, but due to the rules of La Liga we knew that we had to sell a player first. In the end it did not happen. Too bad, but Memphis also knew what the situation was.
“[Trying to sign him in January] is certainly a possibility, yes. I will try, because I would like to have him here. But I cannot estimate now what the financial situation of the club is like in January.”
