Netherlands boss stresses Memphis fitness for World Cup call-up | OneFootball

Forward Memphis Depay is going through a period of uncertainty regarding his presence at the next World Cup. In a press conference, Netherlands national team head coach Ronald Koeman stressed that the Corinthians player will need to reach his best physical level to have a chance of playing in the tournament organized by FIFA.

“He needs to be in great physical shape, because otherwise he won’t have the added value he should have for the team,” said Koeman. “He was at (yesterday’s) training session (for the Netherlands) and had lunch with us. So he was able to see his national team friends again. I spoke briefly with Memphis. No matter who they are, they are always welcome to come by and say ‘hi’”, the coach added.

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Ag. Corinthians

Recovering from a grade 2 muscle injury in his right thigh, Memphis has an estimated period of around eight weeks to fully regain his physical condition. The timeline is important, since the final Netherlands squad for the World Cup will be defined in Zeist at the end of May.

“It’s still not good enough, especially because he still isn’t playing. I told him: ‘Before you know it, the time will come, because there are eight weeks left.’ So, we’ll wait and see […] Scared? Well, I don’t think Memphis gets scared that easily. But he spoke positively about how he sees the next period. They still have a lot of games, one match every three days”, Koeman added.

The coach also commented on a statement by former player Wim Kieft, who had compared Memphis’ potential to that of some of the biggest names in world football. Koeman moved to rein in the comparison, calling it exaggerated.

“We’re talking about three elite forwards. That really is an exaggeration. Memphis is a valuable player for us, but injuries hold him back, and he needs to work on that and be in great shape. But Ronaldo and Messi are on a completely different level”, he said.

The forward’s injury happened in the draw between Corinthians and Flamengo. Because of the physical problem, Memphis ended up being cut from the initial Netherlands squad call-up. Even so, he began his recovery process in Europe, with the expectation of continuing treatment at CT Dr. Joaquim Grava after the end of the FIFA international break.

Since arriving at Corinthians, this is already the seventh physical issue faced by the player. So far, the Dutchman has one goal and one assist in 12 matches, and he had already been unavailable to the team at the start of the season because of muscular rebalancing work.

Still recovering, Memphis will miss Timão’s next match. The black-and-white team returns to the pitch this Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. to face Fluminense at the Maracanã in the ninth round of the Brazilian Championship.

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This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.