Newcastle United have offered a sum of €20 million for exit-bound Barcelona’s Dutch attacker Memphis Depay. Depay arrived from Lyon on a free transfer following the expiry of his contract in 2021 but has failed to make much of an impact at the Camp Nou.

After completing the signings of Ferran Torres and Raphinha from the Premier League in January and July respectively, Barcelona now have seven forwards in their ranks. While Robert Lewandowski is undoubtedly the first-choice striker for Xavi, Ousmane Dembele has also attracted a lot of consensus on taking up the spot on the right, leaving Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati, and Raphinha fighting for the remaining spot in the starting XI.

As such, Memphis Depay is now being viewed as surplus to requirements for the Catalan club and they have been looking for ways to offload him. Barcelona wanted to sell Depay and had even granted him a letter of freedom with the will to secure his departure even on a free. However, there were no suitable takers for the Dutch forward during the summer transfer window and he ended up staying put in Barcelona.

He has majorly lost his prominence at the club following the arrivals of Ferran Torres, Raphinha, and more importantly, Lewandowski and has been shuffling between playing on the left wing and leading the line as a number 9.

Therefore, it isn’t surprising that the Catalan giants are once again considering putting him up on the market in order to secure his departure in the winter transfer window. He has been strongly linked with a January exit from the club with Spanish outlets reporting that Premier League side Newcastle United are heavily interested in his services.

Mundo Deportivo have even reported that Newcastle have tabled a €20 million to secure the Dutch international’s signature.

Given that Depay’s contract is expiring in the summer, €20 million is plenty of money for his sale and one that would also alleviate the Catalan club’s dire financial needs.

Xavi is said to be happy with Memphis’ professionalism and abilities, but will not come in the way of a potential sale, especially with multiple players competing for the same position.

The problem for the club arises from the fact that Depay has maintained that he doesn’t want to leave in January. 

Instead, he wants to leave in the summer when he will be able to negotiate a higher salary and with a huge signing bonus. In order to overcome this difficulty, it has also been suggested that Barcelona are willing to share part of the €20 million fee with the player.