Thursday, May 13, 2021 at 6:04 PM• Chris Meijer • Last update: 18:20

Memphis Depay has reached an agreement with Barcelona, ​​it knows Marca to report. The 27-year-old attacker is satisfied with a hefty salary cut to continue his career in Catalonia, according to the Spanish sports newspaper. There is still one important condition: Depay will only make the switch to Barcelona if Ronald Koeman is also at the helm at the Camp Nou next season.

In recent days there has been a lot of speculation about the future of Koeman at Barcelona. Even before the match against Levante (3-3), it was reported in Spain that despite his contract running until mid-2022, there were internal doubts about the Dutch coach. It is heavily blamed on Koeman that Barcelona will most likely miss the league title, after a defeat against Granada (1-2) and the draw against Levante. A possible dismissal of Koeman has two obstacles: Barcelona cannot afford to give him compensation and a suitable successor is not yet in the picture.

In the meantime, we are already working on the selection for next season. After an audit, it must be shown in the short term how much money can be spent on the transfer market, where Erling Braut Haaland is the ideal reinforcement. Barcelona must also aim for transfer-free players and one of them is Depay, who has an expiring commitment at Olympique Lyon. The name of the the Dutch-international has been linked to Barcelona since the arrival of Koeman and in the past two transfer windows there have been unsuccessful attempts to bring him in.

Now that Depay can be picked up transfer-free, his arrival is more feasible from a financial point of view. The attacker would very much like to work with Koeman again and is therefore willing to put one in the words of Marca to accept ‘substantial salary cut’. Depay would now earn approximately five million euros on an annual basis. However, the agreement between Barcelona and Depay does contain an important condition: that Koeman is still on the bench in the Camp Nou next season. Depay is seen at Barcelona as a purchase on the credit of Koeman, who considers his arrival of fundamental importance for his team.