Barcelona's Memphis Depay 'ruled out of Napoli tie'

Barcelona forward Memphis Depay has reportedly been ruled out of Thursday's Europa League last-32 tie against Napoli due to injury.

The 28-year-old has not featured for Xavi's side since January 12, when Barca were knocked out of the Spanish Super Cup by rivals Real Madrid at the semi-final stage.

Depay was rumoured to be nearing a return from his hamstring injury in time for the Catalan giants' La Liga outing against Alaves at the end of last month, but the Dutch international's comeback was put on hold.

According to Marca, Xavi is unwilling to take any risks in rushing Depay back from injury, and therefore the forward will not participate in Barca's first leg of their Europa League clash with Napoli this week.

The Spanish outfit are then expected to reassess Depay's injury, and are believed to be hopeful that he can return to full fitness ahead of the second leg in Italy a week later.

During his first campaign with Barca, Depay has netted eight goals and provided two assists in 16 La Liga matches.