Barcelona have begun negotiations with Lyon forward Memphis Depay ahead of a free transfer to the club this summer, Spanish outlet OnzeTV3 reports.
The 27-year-old came on the cusp of joining the Blaugrana last summer, but the deal fell through as the Catalan giants could not meet Lyon’s financial demands.
It is now reported that the club have started talks with the attacker over a pre-contract with his current deal due to expire at the end of June.
The Dutchman is excited by the prospect of playing for the Blaugrana and Ronald Koeman, who was previously his national team manager.
Sportslens view:
Depay has had another fine season for Les Gones, registering 20 goals and nine assists from 35 appearances in all competitions.
His efforts have kept Les Gones in the mix for the Champions League places, while they are just three points behind league leaders Lille.
However, he appears to have decided to pursue a bigger challenge elsewhere, and the prospect of a reunion with Koeman seems hard to refuse.
Koeman played a key role in transforming Depay from a left winger into a centre-forward when they worked together in the Netherlands set-up.
Depay may not receive a significant signing-on fee with the club’s financial concerns, but he is reportedly ‘very excited‘ to join the Blaugrana.
Should Depay join the club, it will be interesting to see whether they will continue their pursuit of Manchester City star Sergio Aguero.
It has been previously claimed that Koeman has a clear preference to sign Depay over the Argentina international, who is five years older.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com
Read: Neymar prepared to take a pay cut to re-join Barcelona.
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