Memphis Depay has confirmed that he and his Lyon teammate Houssem Aouar are keen to move on to Ligue 1 and join one of the best clubs in the world.
Depay is a known target for Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman, while Aouar has been linked with Juventus in recent months. The latter was also closely linked with Arsenal last summer before the Gunners captured Thomas Partey, although the lack of Champions League football barely makes them one of the best clubs in the world.
While acknowledging Lyon’s stature – the French club reached the Champions League semi-finals last season for the first time in 10 years – Depay insists he and Aouar now need one more step large and will improve considerably if they have one.
“We know we play for a very big club, but we want to go to one of the top three clubs in the world. Then you will see Houssem, he will be 10 times better. For me, it’s the same ”, declared the Lyon captain to the French channel Canal +.
Depay did not specify which clubs he considers the “best three” in the world.
Aouar is still only 22 years old and is in the early stages of his career. But Depay will soon be 27 and already had an opportunity in his career on a top-level transfer, joining Manchester United from PSV Eindhoven in the summer of 2015.
The Dutch forward arguably lacked the maturity to make him work at such a big club at this stage of his career and struggled to justify his hefty fees in his debut season under Louis van Gaal, before being dispatched halfway through his second by Jose Mourinho.
Large money transfers are not the norm in January, especially in today’s climate where clubs across Europe are counting pennies like never before, meaning Depay and Aouar are unlikely to leave Lyon until the been at the earliest.
That means staying put for the rest of the season and Depay intends to win the Ligue 1 title, which he says “would mean everything”. It would also break Paris Saint-Germain’s grip on French football for the only second time in nine seasons.
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