Fabrizio Romano has admitted that Newcastle United target Memphis Depay is going to be allowed to leave this month.
The Magpies are likely to dip into the transfer market within the next fortnight given the injuries to Bruno Guimaraes, Elliot Anderson and Jonjo Shelvey, which have left Eddie Howe with very few options in the centre of midfield.
However, they may also be in the market for more attacking reinforcements considering the injury records of Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak, which would explain links to Barcelona’s Depay.
The Dutch attacker has reportedly decided to leave this month despite having spent less than two full seasons with Catalan giants – and Depay is said to be of interest to Newcastle as well as Atletico Madrid.
Romano has insisted that Depay has now decided he will leave Barcelona in January, which could excite PIF if they can strike up a cut-price deal.
He said on his YouTube channel: “I wanted to finish on Memphis Depay, because during the crazy hours of the Mudryk story, I shared an important update about Depay saying that from what I’m told, Memphis Depay has decided to leave Barcelona.
Would you want Newcastle to sign Depay?
Yes!
No!
“It’s over between Memphis Depay and Barca, he wants to leave as soon as possible in this January transfer window.”
TIF Thoughts on Depay…
Given the monster wages Depay would command at Newcastle based on what he earns in La Liga, it would be very unlikely that he’d turn up on Tyneside, especially as he wouldn’t naturally be a starter for the Magpies given the presence of both Wilson and Isak.
Depay has been linked with a move to Atletico Madrid, so staying in Spain and playing under Diego Simeone could well be a more appealing move for him to consider.
Bringing in someone of Depay’s ability, which was recently labelled as ‘extraordinary‘ by Louis van Gaal, would be a big headline signing given his presence in the game and goalscoring record over the last few years, but the midfield situation surely has to be addressed by Howe and PIF before anything else.