DRUBBING: For Jesse Marsch in his first game as Canada boss.placeholder image
DRUBBING: For Jesse Marsch in his first game as Canada boss. | ANP/AFP via Getty Images
Memphis Depay failed to live up to expectations at Old Trafford but the Netherlands international continues to prove the doubters wrong.
It’s been 10 years since Manchester United signed the player who they thought would finally be the answer to replacing Cristiano Ronaldo and despite a less than impressive spell at Old Trafford, Memphis Depay continues to prove the doubters wrong.
After scoring his 51st and 52nd goals for the Netherlands against Lithuania, the 31-year old became his country’s top goalscorer. A fine record when you consider names like Marco van Basten, Robin van Persie, Patrick Kluivert, Dennis Bergkamp and Ruud van Nistelrooy are now on the list below him. Having broken through as a maverick winger, the Corinthian’s forward established himself as a no.9 and hasn’t looked back since.
Should Man Utd have been more patient with Memphis Depay
In 2015, Wayne Rooney was still one of the first names on the team sheet with Chicharito a more than reliable backup option. There was also the record signing of Anthony Martial, a player who, unlike Memphis, has never truly fulfilled his potential.
What he also had to contend with was the stunning breakthrough of Marcus Rashford who immediately became a fans’ favourite and someone who they could relate to. Patience wasn’t needed with Memphis because other options were available.
The biggest issue was that reality didn’t live up to expectation and a player who had been given a license to create and to be free at his previous club, was then pigeon-holed into a shape and system by Jose Mourinho and then Louis van Gaal.
The right player at the right club, but under the wrong managers. Throughout his career, Memphis has contributed 221 goals and assists in 370 league games in the Eredivisie, La Liga, Premier League, Ligue 1 and Brazil’s Serie A. He also has a goal contribution every two games in domestic cup games and 48 in 88 in European competition. Add his 52 goals for the Netherlands and Memphis is, probably, one of the most underrated forwards of his generation.
What did Memphis say about his time at Man Utd and returning
With hindsight, United probably should have taken up the option to bring Memphis back to Old Trafford.
“I said to Mourinho ‘you will see me at the top’,” he claimed in an interview with Jonathan Northcroft in The Sunday Times.
“He said, ‘OK, I hope that and I hope we will buy you back one day.’ I never had a bad relationship with him. I saw everybody playing left wing except me, even Wayne Rooney. Rooney is, of course, a legendary player but not a winger. I don’t blame the manager. Maybe he doesn’t like my style of play. I love playing beautiful football, tricks and doing cheeky things. I don’t know if that’s his type of game.”
“As a team, we didn’t play great football and some things I don’t understand,” he says. If you have talented young players, Anthony Martial, Luke Shaw and the others, they need freedom. It’s not like you weren’t allowed to dribble or anything. It was just the tasks you had. When you give some players too much information they think too much.”
As seen with so many players over the last 10 years, the problems run so much deeper at the club than those who done the famous red shirt.
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