Position : Forward
Club : FC Barcelona
National team : Netherlands
Age : 28
In their last 20 internationals Mo Salah has scored six goals, Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe 12 each, Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi 15 apiece, Harry Kane 16 and Erling Haaland 20, while Depay has netted 21.
Depay’s cocktail of unpredictable skills, defence-fracturing through-balls and lethal finishes prompted current Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal to label him “one of the most difficult players to stop in the world”, Bastian Schweinsteiger to laud him as an ”unbelievable talent” and Georginio Wijnaldum to tell FIFA that “the team is doing so well because of Memphis. He’s a striker now but he does much more than score goals – he makes things happen, he gets assists.”
Depay went to Brazil 2014 as a 20-year-old, setting up Robin van Persie’s equaliser and scoring the winner in a 3-2 win over Australia on his competition debut, consequently becoming the youngest Dutchman to net a World Cup goal.
He also rose from the bench to seal a 2-0 victory over Chile en route to going home with a bronze medal.
The Netherlands’ chances of a first gold in Qatar will be indebted to a Barcelona player who is closing in on Van Persie’s national goal record of 50.
