Memphis Depay’s Oranje Future Under Scrutiny
For Valentijn Driessen, the verdict is already in. Memphis Depay, one of the defining faces of the Netherlands in the past decade, has pulled on the Oranje shirt for the last time.
The De Telegraaf head of football did not dance around it. Memphis, he argued, is trapped in a vicious circle of fragile fitness and advancing age.
“He'll have to play a lot first,” Driessen said. “And when he plays three, four or five matches in a row, he often gets injured. So that's the problem with Memphis. And he's not the youngest any more.”
That, in Driessen’s eyes, is the core of it. At 32, the forward is still rebuilding at Corinthians, still trying to stitch together the rhythm that once made him the heartbeat of the Dutch attack. The minutes simply aren’t there.
“Memphis has played, I think, one and a half or two matches. So I understand why he's not in the squad. Let him get fully fit at Corinthians first.”
The numbers back up the concern. Sporadic appearances, constant interruptions, little chance to build form. For a national team manager operating in short, intense windows, that becomes a brutal calculation.
Driessen doesn’t see a path back.
“His physical condition is holding him back, of course. Otherwise, he might still have been included or given a chance by Xavi. But I think we've seen Memphis play his last international.”
It is a stark line for a player who has carried so much of the creative burden for his country. Memphis has 112 caps for the Netherlands, a figure that places him among the most experienced internationals of his generation. His last appearance now feels a world away: a 15–minute cameo at the World Cup, in the 1–3 group-stage win over Tunisia.
Yet the door, officially at least, is not closed.
National-team coach Xavi has chosen other forwards for this international period, leaning on players he believes are sharper right now. At Monday’s press conference, he framed the decision in simple terms.
“We have decided that the rest of the squad are in better form.”
No drama. Just form and fitness. That is the public stance.
Privately? The respect for Memphis remains obvious. Xavi went out of his way to underline that this is not a definitive farewell.
“The door will always be open to him, especially for players like him, because he has a lot of quality and talent, and can score a lot of goals and make the difference.”
So the picture splits in two.
On one side, a seasoned Dutch journalist convinced the curtain has already fallen on a remarkable international career. On the other, a national coach who refuses to use the word “never”, but who has just built a squad without one of its most recognisable figures.
The next act belongs to Memphis himself. If his body allows, if Corinthians becomes a stage rather than a rehab stop, he still has the talent to force the issue. If not, that brief World Cup outing against Tunisia may stand as the final snapshot of a player who once carried Oranje expectation on his shoulders.
Has the last chapter already been written, or is there one more twist left in the story?
