How Memphis Depay went from Manchester United flop to Man City's biggest headache
It is tempting to wonder, as Memphis Depay stood on the spot and stuck his fingers in his ears in trademark celebration, what Louis van Gaal would have made of the impudent, high risk panenka penalty that his former Manchester United charge had just stroked into the Juventus net.
It takes a certain mentality to attempt the skill in any game, let alone one when the stakes are so high.
Zinedine Zidane famously opened the scoring for France in the 2006 World Cup final with a panenka that bounced in off the underside of the bar. Six years later, Andrea Pirlo fooled a despairing Joe Hart into diving to his right as the midfielder gently chipped the ball down the middle in Italy’s penalty shoot-out victory over England in the quarter-finals of Euro 2012.
Memphis, as he prefers to be known, has not been afraid to indulge in such a high wire act before. His panenka against France in 2018 sealed Holland’s passage to the Nations League finals but even that did not compare to the pressure penalty he faced for Lyon in the Champions League in Turin last week.
Juventus won the game 2-1 but Lyon progressed on away goals thanks to Depay’s temerity from 12 yards and, in Lisbon on Saturday night, the French club will face Manchester City in their first European Cup quarter-final for a decade knowing they have twice given Pep Guardiola a bloody nose in recent times.
A key member of the Lyon team that beat City at the Etihad Stadium last season, and which twice led before drawing 2-2 in France, Memphis will have every confidence of producing another upset, and reminding everyone in Manchester about the trajectory his career has taken since his United departure in 2017 after two difficult years.
Memphis was not the only creative player who struggled with the rigid, restrictive rules imposed by his fellow Dutchman Van Gaal at Old Trafford. Just ask Angel Di Maria. But for a forward who routinely talks about the importance of being able to play with the sort of “freedom” he has come to enjoy with Lyon, and under Ronald Koeman for Holland, Van Gaal’s rejection of “intuitive” thinking was at odds with how Memphis saw the game.
Wide players were told that, rather than looking to beat their man, it was better to wait for the team’s full-backs to arrive in support and Memphis, among others, felt overburdened by Van Gaal’s information and instructions.
“I was convinced I could add something that wasn’t there yet: creativity, boldness, moves,” he said last year. “Manchester United is one of the biggest clubs in the world. In name. But for years they played football that put you to sleep.”
At Lyon, Memphis has found the freedom he craved and repaid that faith with 54 goals and 42 assists in 125 league and European games. His panenka against Juventus was his sixth successive Champions League goal. Memphis has played as a central striker and wide left in an assortment of formations but is currently revelling in the hole behind Moussa Dembele in Rudi Garcia’s preferred 3-5-2, a system that seems to maximise their counter-attacking threat. City will certainly be wary of the pace and prowess of Dembele and Memphis and the creativity of Maxwel Cornet, who scored three times across those two games in 2018, and midfield playmaker Houssem Aouar.
Yet Memphis has not abused the freedoms Lyon have afforded him. Quite the opposite. For example, when he ruptured his anterior cruciate last December, he insisted on overseeing his own rehabilitation and returned quicker than anyone at the club could have believed, even if he did give them a fright when they saw footage on his social media of him running just two months after suffering the injury.
At the height of his struggles at Old Trafford, Memphis blamed his managers, Van Gaal and later Jose Mourinho. Looking back now, wiser and older and, at 26, with his peak years ahead, he blames himself. The extrovert with a taste for exotic fashion, fast cars, rap music and his Chow Chow dog, Simba, masks an introspective, sensitive individual with a big heart, prodigious work rate and remarkably strong mentality forged during a difficult childhood. When he sticks those fingers in his ears, it is his way of telling kids to tune out from the noise and naysayers and focus on their goals. Indeed, it was from that gesture that he created the “Memphis Foundation”, which helps deaf and blind children in Africa and Holland.
It is certainly tempting to wonder if things would be a little different now at United for Memphis, who probably sees more of a kindred spirit in charge in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and might fancy being part of that young, vibrant attack.
Ironically, Borussia Dortmund are rumoured to be looking at Memphis as a potential replacement for Jadon Sancho should the England winger join United. The Dutchman may be setting his sights a little higher, though, still convinced he can flourish at the very top. City better watch out.
