The short, sad phenomenon that was Memphis Depay’s Manchester United career is over.
On Friday morning, The Dutchman made his move to Lyon official and will be hoping to finally fulfil his potential in Ligue 1.
The 22-year-old never really settled at Old Trafford following his switch from PSV Eindhoven in 2015, despite linking up with compatriot Louis van Gaal.
It’s fair to say many United fans will be left feeling disappointed, not by the club’s decision to sell the winger, but by the fact that he never quite performed to the level they expected of such a highly-rated midfielder.
What might come as a surprise is that the Red Devils did include a buy-back option. Although that’s fairly common practice in the transfer market, at the moment it’s hard to envisage Memphis playing for United again.
Yet, in a glowing speech about the outgoing might-have-been, Jose Mourinho was happy to shed light on just why it didn’t work out for him this time around.
DEPAY’S ONE PROBLEM
“He’s a player from one position, the only position where we have overbooking,” he said, per the Mirror.
“He’s a winger and wingers are what we have more of. So he was the position where it’s more difficult to have chances, where it’s more difficult to be the next choice because it is a position where we never have problems.
“We have Lingard, Mata, we have Mkhitaryan, we have Martial, Ashley Young, we have Marcus Rashford, it’s a position where we have six possibilities. Even Rooney sometimes played from the left.
“So I would say these two things about him – on one side he is a fantastic professional and on the other side, we had too many players in this position.”
TOUCHING TRIBUTE
Reflecting on the buy-back option, Mourinho also seemed fairly open to the idea if Memphis ends up making United look silly at Lyon.
“We all wish he plays very, very well at Olympique Lyonnaise and why not then come back because everyone here likes him,” he added.
It’s great that he’s got such a touching goodbye from his manager, but actions speak louder than words. Mourinho put Memphis on the pitch for a grand total of 79 minutes this season.
All the same, it’s a much nicer send-off than the one he’s got from Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas, who has branded him a “show pony” and a “poor version of Neymar”.