The new Barcelona joinie, Memphis Depay has expressed his excitement at the prospect of working with Lionel Messi. During his Barcelona unveiling, Memphis described the Argentina international as a “legend.”
More than a month ago Barca had announced the signing of the Dutchman but to reveal their new arrival at Camp Nou the club had to wait until now.
“It’s a dream [to play alongside Messi],” he said according to Barcelona’s official social media account. “Watching all his games, he’s a legend. I don’t need to say much. The best player in the world”
“You see what he did in Copa America so I’m looking forward to playing with him. I think everybody in the world would like to play with a player like him. Yesterday I had a tour in the museum and you see all the Ballon d’Ors he’s won, and there’ll probably be another one soon.”
“It’s been a long conversation but the will was always there,” he said about Barca. “I would like to thank the president and also my team for all the effort they put in to make the deal happen. With all the passion that is in this club from the board, the fans, the players, the city and also the reporters, everyone here knows the importance of the club and I definitely realise how big this club is and what an impact it had on me as a child.
“Now to be here as a 27-year-old guy chasing my dream I think it’s amazing. I’m looking forward to playing in a full stadium and I’m really excited to meet all the fans. The team is ready for the new season, we had a good rest and now it’s time to go back to work and bring trophies in. [Koeman] had a big impact. I know him from the national team – he put me in the centre-forward position and it did a lot. In the games that I played under the coach, I did a lot of things that created chances and goals.”
“I think he made me feel confident to play in a different role, he tried me through the middle and it worked. Obviously, he made the step to Barcelona and from then we stayed in contact. He tried to convince me to come last season already. I think now was the right moment so obviously it was the influence of the coach but you cannot say no to Barcelona so I would have come anyway.”
