Atletico must have some strange fascination with these Barcelona strikers. Atletico Madrid have made the €3M signing of Barcelona striker Memphis Depay official, making the Dutch forward the third Barca striker to join Atletico in as many seasons.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen two heated rivals have such a prolific transfer history with one another.
Like I said, this Depay singing is now the third Barcelona striker to move to the Spanish Capital and join Atletico Madrid on either a permeant transfer, a free transfer, and/or an obligatory buy-option loan. First, Barcelona legend Luis Suarez joined Atletico in the 2020-21 season after former Barca boss Ronald Koeman refused to resign the forward to his age and a desire to play younger players.
Naturally, this worked out for Koeman just as well as every job he’s had at the top level as Barcelona went on to finish 3rd in La Liga that season (only two points above 4th place Sevilla), while Luis Suarez helped Atletico lift its first La Liga title in 7 years with his 21 league goals. Obviously, Suarez had a little more left to give than what Koeman, who has unceremoniously sacked the very next season in favor of Barca legend Xavi, believed.
Anway, the next forward to leave was Antonie Griezmann as he first rejoined Atletico on loan in the summer of 2021/22, and then that loan was made permanent this year after the French forward meet the minutes clause in the loan. I don’t want to get too much into the Griezmann case as his move from Atletico to Barca and then subsequent loan/transfer back to Atletico will go down as one of the most confusing transfer sagas in world history, let alone Spanish football.
Simply put, Xavi didn’t want to play Griezmann as the Frenchman never got accustomed to the pressures and demands of a club like Barcelona, which then lead him getting reloaned and then permanently dealt back to Atletico.
Unfortunately for Griezmann, he didn’t have the same success as Luis Suarez had as the Madrid side had one of the worst title defenses in living La Liga memory with their 15-point finish (3rd place) behind eventual winners Real Madrid.
As for Depay, I don’t think he will see the success that Suarez achieved either.
First off, both Barcelona and Real Madrid are in far stronger positions than they were in 2021, which was the main reason why Atletico was able to sneak their way to the title. As of me writing this, Atletico (4th place; 28 PTS) are already 10 points behind 2nd place Real Madrid (2nd place; 38 PTS) and 13 points behind league leaders Barcelona (1st place; 41 PTS), despite having played a game more than both clubs.
This Depay signing really is only about Atletico staying afloat in the Top-4 race as they are closer to 10th (6 points off) than they are to 3rd (7 points off), which should tell you a lot about how this season has gone for them, and to replace Joao Felix as he moved to Chelsea on loan a few days ago.
I’m not expecting much from Depay as he’s been practically left out to dry by Xavi since the Barcelona managers’ hiring. We’ll see if Depay can prove me and all of his doubters wrong, though I’m not holding out hope.
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