Dutch forward Memphis Depay has completed a transfer to Atletico Madrid from Barcelona.
The 28-year-old who was given permission to train with Atletico on Thursday has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal at the Civitas Metropolitano.
Atletico is reportedly paying an upfront fee of €3million to Barca for a player who was due to be out of contract in July, potentially rising to €4m.
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Depay joined Barcelona on a free transfer from Lyon ahead of the 2021-22 season, linking up again with Ronald Koeman, for whom he had played with the Oranje, but Koeman was fired by the Blaugrana at the end of October 2021.
Xavi was hired a week later and never appeared to have quite the same trust in Depay.
His first 11 LaLiga appearances were all as a starter, but after Xavi’s appointment only nine of his next 17 top-flight outings came from the start.
Depay was hampered by the January 2022 arrivals of Ferran Torres, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Adama Traore.
While the latter two have since departed, the addition of Raphinha in pre-season brought more competition for places.
As such, Depay leaves having made just two LaLiga appearances this season and none since September.
Depay is a necessary addition for Atletico, however.
Joao Felix left on loan to Chelsea, while Matheus Cunha joined Wolves on a temporary deal that has reportedly already met the conditions required to make it a permanent agreement.