Depay keeps the door open for Barcelona: We'll be in January soon

Memphis Depay hasn't ruled out a move to Barcelona in January. The forward has stayed at Lyon to see out at least half of the final year of his contract after a failed pursuit from the Catalan club in the summer. Lyon could opt to sell Depay in January, instead of keeping him for the rest of the season and losing him for free next summer.

"We'll see what happens," Depay told Dutch newspaper AD. "We'll be in January soon. We'll have to wait and see how things go. It's not that I'm definitely leaving, but there will probably be clubs [after me] soon. I'm 26 and almost a free agent, so you can expect clubs to be interested, right?"

The Dutch international also revealed how close he came to signing for Barcelona in the summer transfer window. "Everything was done, really," Depay added. "Some regulations stopped it from being completed. I was waiting for the green light, but I kept training. It's not that I had a phone in my tracksuit bottoms on the training pitch. Everything happens for a reason."

Depay was one of Barcelona's main targets in the summer transfer window, with Ronald Koeman recommending him to the club. The pair had spent the last couple of years working together with the Dutch national team and share a good relationship.

When a move for Lautaro Martinez appeared impossible to make, Barcelona turned their attention to Depay towards the end of the transfer window. However, despite Lyon's willingness to sell for the right price, the transfer was not completed before the deadline on October 5. The day before, Depay remained on the bench for Lyon's 1-1 draw against Marseille in Ligue 1.

The former PSV Eindhoven forward joined Lyon from Manchester United in the summer of 2017 after an unsuccessful stint at Old Trafford.