Top 50 players at 2022 World Cup, No. 40: Memphis Depay
FOX Sports soccer analyst and former USMNT midfielder Stu Holden is counting down the 50 best players participating in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Up next is …
Country: Netherlands
Rank: 40
Rank in 2018: N/A
Position: Forward
Age: 28
Since completing a £25 million transfer from French club Lyon to Spanish giants Barcelona, Memphis Depay's star hasn't shined as bright at the club level. On the international level with the Netherlands, however, Depay is still the go-to guy for goals, and for good reason.
"Depay is player only trailing Robin Van Persie on the all-time goal-scoring list for Holland," Holden said of Depay. "He’s going to need to add to that tally if the Dutch are to make it out of Group A at the World Cup."
It's unlikely that Depay will break Van Persie's all-time record at the World Cup — he's nine goals away and no one's scored nine goals at the World Cup since 1966. But the Netherlands don't need him to be a Golden Boot contender to make a deep run; they just need him to be his usual, goal-scoring self.