Memphis Depay pulled off a quite outrageous piece of skill during his Barcelona debut against Real Sociedad.
With Lionel Messi having departed the Nou Camp, Barcelona will be relying on their other attacking players to step up to the mark and help fill the void left by the Argentine’s departure.
While that’ll be no easy task, having players as talented as Depay in your ranks gives you a fighting chance, with the former Lyon star having made his La Liga debut on Sunday evening.
Depay’s first competitive Barcelona appearance ended with a 4-2 victory, with the 27-year-old proving that he can entertain, as well as producing direct goal contributions.
The Dutch forward provided the assist for Gerard Pique’s opening goal, and as for entertainment value, the great Lionel Messi himself would’ve been proud of this flick!
Memphis Depay already looking right at home at Camp Nou! 🔥
What a flick that was 😍 pic.twitter.com/ihYNJWUAvw
— Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) August 15, 2021
Pictures courtesy of Premier Sports
Pictures courtesy of ABC
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BenchWarmers’ view
Depay is not and will never be comparable to Messi, but it would be setting him up to fail to measure him up to arguably the greatest player in the history of football.
A total of 20 goals and 12 assists in Ligue 1 last season proved that he is no longer the raw, inconsistent wide-man we saw at Manchester United. He has all the makings of a legitimately world-class attacking player.
If he is able to replicate his contributions to Lyon at the Nou Camp, Messi’s absence will be felt less, but obviously he’s going to require a little help from his teammates.
Depay, Antoine Griezmann and Martin Braithwaite look set to be Barca’s front three for the foreseeable, with Ansu Fati, Ousmane Dembele and Sergio Aguero to return from injury later down the line.
Ronald Koeman has sufficient firepower at his disposal to be competitive in La Liga this campaign, even if Barca cannot be considered anything like frontrunners for the title at this point in time.