Just three goals in nine games - Memphis is no Messi replacement

Stefan Bienkowski

• 2 Oct 2021 22:25 BST
• 6 min read

After a truly haunting summer transfer window which saw the club say goodbye to its greatest ever player, Barcelona began the new season with a desperate search to see who could replace Lionel Messi.

The man - or rather boy - who was given the Argentina forward’s No.10 shirt was Ansu Fati but while the young Spaniard is full of immense promise, injury has limited his influence so far this season and few genuinely believe the 18-year-old can carry the weight of the club on his young shoulders.

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Another candidate that presented himself was another young Spanish prospect in the form of Pedri. After arriving at the club last season, the central midfielder elbowed his way into Ronald Koeman’s side and began to show his immense promise. Then, at Euro 2020 with Luis Enrique’s Spain side, Pedri confirmed to the rest of the continent that the next decade may indeed be his for the taking.

However, in truth, the one player that was perhaps capable of taking on Messi’s responsibility of grabbing games by the scruff of the neck and winning them almost single-handedly was Memphis Depay. And, unfortunately for the Catalan side, the Dutch forward has yet to live up that billing.

Memphis is no Messi

While few would genuinely suggest Memphis - or indeed any player - could really replace Messi, the Dutch forward was signed with the explicit expectation that he would at least score and create goals in equal measure.

Sure, the club’s midfield may still be undermined by an ageing Sergio Busquets and the defensive line may be a disaster, but at least Barca would have a forward that could take the lead by storm. At least that was the plan.

However, that hasn't exactly gone to plan. On Saturday Memphis huffed and puffed against Atletico Madrid but over the course of the game he managed just one shot on target against the reigning Spanish champions. A remarkable stat when you consider he touched the ball over twice as many times as Luis Suarez, who walked off the pitch with a goal and an assist to his name.

Indeed, this most recent Catalan defeat was Memphis’ ninth game of the season and to date the Holland international has only managed three goals. While that’s not terrible, it’s also not great. Especially since the goals came against lowly sides, such as Levante, Getafe and Athletic Bilbao.

While Memphis may have thrived against poorer sides, he has struggled to live up to the hype in the big games that Barca have needed him most. Against Benfica the forward managed just one shot and against Bayern Munich he went 93 minutes without landing a single blow to Manuel Neuer’s goal.

Memphis is certainly no Messi. In fact, at this moment in time he isn’t an entirely useful player for Barca at all.