A flop at Man Utd, a flop at Barca - Depay is not an elite player

Stefan Bienkowski

• 9 Dec 2021 16:10 CST
• 8 min read

Barcelona’s demise as an elite European club was not only defined by the club’s failure to reach the Last 16 but also the manner in which Xavi’s side struggled in front of goal throughout the group stages.

Across six games against three opponents of varying quality, the Catalan side managed just two goals while conceding nine. Which undoubtedly underlines where Xavi’s side must improve if they are to get back to the top of European football.

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Indeed, the crux of the issue lies with the player tasked with converting Barcelona’s chances into goals and as we’ve seen this season and in the past, he simply isn’t good enough to be relied upon at the highest level. That player is, of course, Memphis Depay.

Depay’s European record

In 525 minutes of Champions League football this season, Depay hasn’t managed a single goal or assist and when we look across his entire career we can perhaps see why.

To date, Depay has played 2,063 minutes of Champions League football and only managed eight goals and four assists, which works out at a rather paltry 0.52 goals or assists per 90 in the competition.

Not only is that rather poor, but it’s also notably lower than the player’s Europa League average of 0.73 goals and assists per 90 over the course of his career. And when we compare that to Depay’s varying success in Europe’s top leagues we do begin to notice a trend.

Depay’s domestic league form

Indeed, Depay made his name in Holland and bagged an impressive 39 goals and 20 assists for PSV, averaging 0.9 goals and assists per 90 before making the move to England.

However, as many Manchester United fans will remember well, Depay struggled to match the intensity and quality of the Premier League and eventually departed England with an average of just 0.18 goals and assists per 90 for the Old Trafford side.

Depay then bounced back from his poor stint at Man Utd by regaining his form at Lyon, where he picked up an impressive 63 goals and 50 assists for the French club in just 139 league games. And in the process, Depay’s average shot up to 0.98 per 90 in a notably weaker top flight.

That, as we all know, then earned Depay a move to Barcelona, but as we saw in England, the forward’s ability to bag goals and assists has notably diminished against weaker players. So far for the La Liga side, Depay’s averaged just 0.67 goals and assists per 90 in the Spanish top flight.

In other words, there’s a clear distinction between where Depay finds success in front of goal and it certainly seems to suggest that he’s a very effective player up to a certain point. The problem for Barca is that he may not be the man to help them get where they need to go.