Tuesday, October 18, 2022 at 3:49 PM• Wessel Antes

Memphis Depay will soon make his comeback at Barcelona, ​​the Spanish sports newspaper reports SPORT. In the last international match, the international of the Dutch national team suffered a muscle injury, from which the 28-year-old attacker has now almost recovered. Depay is expected to be back on Sunday when Barcelona take on Athletic Club.

If that duel in LaLiga comes too early, then Depay will be there again for the Champions League meeting with Bayern Munich. Trainer Xavi will be happy with good news, as his team has been plagued by injuries lately. In addition to Depay, Héctor Bellerín and Andreas Christensen were also sidelined for some time. Just like the Dutchman, those two also seem to be available again on Sunday. That does not apply to Ronald Araujo. The Uruguayan is not expected back until after the World Cup.

Depay’s return is also good news for national coach Louis van Gaal. The coach sees the former PSV player as his attacking leader. Before the Nations League match with Belgium won 1-0, Van Gaal already said that Depay and also teammate Frenkie de Jong, who dropped out against Poland with a hamstring injury, have a special status with the the Dutch. “Memphis and Frenkie are two very important players for me. I put a heart to them when they left. I told them that I will keep a place in the selection for them for as long as possible towards the World Cup. They have meant so much to this the Dutch. They deserved a plus.”

De Jong made his comeback on October 9 against Celta de Vigo and was on the field for the entire match on Sunday during the Clásico against Real Madrid. The upcoming return of Depay is also good news for Van Gaal, because with his 42 goals in the Dutch he seems to be indispensable. Only Robin van Persie (fifty goals) is still above Depay on the eternal top scorers list of the Dutch. The global final tournament in Qatar starts for Van Gaal’s men on November 21. The Senegal of Sadio Mané and Kalidou Koulibaly, among others, is the opponent in the Al Thumana Stadium in Doha.