Barcelona find young Dutch striker as Memphis Depay’s alternative

Barcelona could secure a young striker instead of Memphis Depay.

Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman revealed his plans on getting Memphis Depay in January to a newspaper outlet, Algemeen Dagbald, in an interview claims Mundo Deportivo. The Dutch coach is optimistic about his chances of bringing in Depay but he also has an alternative in mind. Young striker, Donyell Malen, from PSV Eindhoven is the perfect alternative for the man from Lyon and could go on to be the longtime replacement for Luis Suarez who left the club and joined rivals, Atletico Madrid instead.

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Koeman wanted to bring Depay to Camp Nou the minute he told Suarez to leave, however, the Dutch player could not be bought due to financial difficulties. The plan was to sell Ousmane Dembele in order to pay the fees for Depay but Dembele refused to leave the club and thus the Catalans are now stuck without a striker.

Another alternative to Depay is Donyell Malen. The Dutch striker is only 21 years of age and has already been creating waves around his club and his nation. He has already scored seven goals this season in all competitions and provided two assists.

He is known to be a speedy striker who can outpace his opposition. He is also quite creative and his skills and vision on pitch prove that. His display of speed, skills, and accuracy has definitely caught the eye of the Barcelona coach however, he would have already known Malen’s potential having worked with the talent previously in the Dutch national team.

Malen has in fact even scored under the Barca coach and thus Koeman should be having a good amount of knowledge about the striker. Koeman’s transfers and interests shows us that he is only willing to bring in players he personally knows and Malen is no different. A young talent like him could go on to serve the Spanish giants for many years and thus in many ways would be the better choice of the two.

Should Barca sign Malen instead of Depay?