Barcelona have told their leading goalscorer from last season, Memphis Depay, he should seek a new club. It is becoming an annual event.
This time a year ago, Lionel Messi, whose 38 goals for a troubled Barca in 2020/21 seemed to have persuaded Messi to extend his long relationship with the club after a difficult patch, was waved off. He was shocked when the club brusquely told him they could no longer afford him, even at half his previous salary.
Messi, much missed and still loved by Barca fans, is now a Paris Saint-Germain player. Where Depay, liked and respected for his enthusiasm and the goals he contributed in a challenging post-Messi season, finds his next niche remains to be seen.
But there will be a market for the Dutchman. Nor will the rejection of Barcelona be held against Depay. Turnover is so high and haphazard at Camp Nou that any player who finds himself superseded there is not so much seen as a failure as simply unfortunate to have been trapped in an endlessly revolving door.
To recap: In the last 12 months, Barcelona have said farewell to the greatest forward in their history, Messi. They have sold their costliest ever player, Philippe Coutinho, for what amounted to a loss of 85 per cent on his original purchase price of €140m-plus.
They have loaned back to Atletico Madrid the World Cup-winner Antoine Griezmann, who they bought for €120 million from the same club. They have let expire the contract of Ousmane Dembele, who cost them €120m five years ago, and then re-signed the French attacker, who has started barely a third of Liga matches in his time at Barca, a matter of weeks later.
In the same period, they have acquired Ferran Torres from Manchester City, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Arsenal, Raphinha from Leeds United and said hello followed by a sad goodbye to Sergio Aguero.
You could forgive Depay if he whispered ‘Good luck - you may need it,’ when he welcomed yet another striker, Robert Lewandowski, into the squad on Monday, following the much-hyped arrival of the Pole from Bayern Munich, where, like Aubameyang at Arsenal, and Aguero at City, he was the figurehead goalscorer season after season.
The capture of Lewandowski stands out from several of these comings and goings because Bayern had wanted to keep their prolific marksman and serial champion.
Aguero, whose brief Barcelona career was cut short by a heart issue that forced him retire, and Aubameyang had reached the end of their time at their Premier League clubs – and because Barcelona have paid a sizeable fee.
The initial €45m for a striker with a year left on his Bayern contract looks like a reasonable deal for the buyers, but the context of Lewandowski’s age – he will be 34 next month and has a three-year deal with Barca – poses some questions; the state of Barca’s finances poses many more.
Lewandowski and Raphinha alone have cost over €100m this summer, a close-season that began with warnings from La Liga that Barcelona’s debts – reported as close to €1 billion earlier this year – and overheads meant that they could not register new players until they had addressed a shortfall of over €140m in meeting the Spanish league’s obligatory financial fair-play regulations.
Barcelona 2021/22 season ratings
The club have worked ingeniously at doing so, but at the cost of effectively mortgaging portions of their projected future income from merchandise and broadcast deals.
Barca can and will present a better set of accounts to La Liga, but there is still a level of brinkmanship to their many deals of the summer. The sales of Depay and Frenkie de Jong – wanted by Manchester United – may become essential in order to get all the new signings registered within the income-to-outgoings balance stipulated by La Liga.
Lewandowski and Raphinha are just two of the newcomers. Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen have also joined this month, and although they came in on free transfers, they impact significantly on the wage bill. Christensen’s former Chelsea teammates, Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso are also being targeted.
Kessie came from Italian champions AC Milan, Lewandowski from the Bundesliga holders. Laporta is not shy about stressing that, for all Barcelona’s well-reported economic issues and a trophy drought that stretches back to the Copa del Rey of Messi’s final season there, Camp Nou is still a desired destination for stars.
“We were competing with clubs like PSG and Chelsea,” the Barcelona president said of the chase for Lewandowski. “I like that he wanted to come to Barca, accepted a lower salary here and withstood a lot of pressure from Bayern.”
The pressure Lewandowski takes on now is bigger: To reproduce the sort of prolific finishing he gave to Bayern and that, for over a decade, Barca could take for granted from Messi, the legend whose shadow lingers over the many attacking players who pass through Camp Nou’s revolving doors.
100 notable summer transfers
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
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Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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RESULT
Bayer Leverkusen 2 Bayern Munich 4
Leverkusen: Alario (9'), Wirtz (89')
Bayern: Coman (27'), Goretzka (42'), Gnabry (45'), Lewandowski (66')
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Dictionary of Animal Languages
Heidi Sopinka
Scribe
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule
1st Test July 26-30 in Galle
2nd Test August 3-7 in Colombo
3rd Test August 12-16 in Pallekele
57%20Seconds
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
