Barcelona disappointment: Juventus pull out of Memphis Depay deal
FT Desk
- 23 Aug 2022 08:00 BST
- 3 min read
Barcelona's attempts to offload Memphis Depay have taken a hit with Juventus pulling out of a deal to sign the Dutch international attacker.
Barcelona are slowly emerging from their €1 billion debt with the sale of a percentage of future revenues, but they still need to sell players in order to satisfy La Liga financial regulations.
Four of the five players signed this summer - Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie - have been registered to play in official competitions, but Jules Kounde is still unable to play.
A contract clause may see Jules Kounde leave Barcelona for free 😯https://t.co/fH0l4JAujq
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 20, 2022
The Frenchman, who arrived from Sevilla for €50m, is injured anyway, but Barca will have to offload some more players before the end of the transfer window is he is to make his debut for the club.
The two most likely to leave have been Memphis and Samuel Umtiti, the pair set for Serie A destinations with Juventus and Lecce respectively. In Memphis's case, a personal agreement with Juve would have been followed by a mutual decision to rescind his contract at Camp Nou.
Walking in Memphis?
But an agreement between Memphis and the record Italian champions is proving harder to get over the line than had been anticipated.
"Sporting director Federico Cherubini has Memphis Depay in his hand," write Tuttosport. "But at the moment it seems frozen, and in the last few hours he has lined up Arkadiusz Milik of Marseille instead."
Tottenham Hotspur are also reportedly interested in Memphis, while Barca hope to facilitate Umtiti's move by continuing to pay his wages with Lecce only paying add-ons as the season progresses.
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Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang is nearing a move to Chelsea, meanwhile, and Barcelona still hope that Frenkie de Jong will follow him to Stamford Bridge, if not join Manchester United.
Barca have thus far managed to offload Philippe Coutinho, Francisco Trincao and Oscar Mingueza this summer, with Coutinho making his loan deal to Aston Villa permanent for €20m, while the other two have generated €3m apiece from Sporting Lisbon and Celta Vigo respectively.
