Mourinho: ‘Memphis Depay is a good professional’
Although Jose Mourinho was the coach who decided to sanction Louis van Gaal’s permanent move, he still believes in him and is backing him to shine at Barcelona.
Memphis Depay
was brought to Old Trafford in 2015 by Louis van Gaal but he left for Lyon only 18 months later after making 53 appearances and scoring seven goals.
Jose Mourinho
was the coach who sanctioned a permanent transfer elsewhere as Depay was struggling to fulfill his potential and there were questions of his temperament and character.
The Portuguese coach admitted that his “childish” behavior cost his position at
Manchester Unitedbut believes in the Dutch forward’s ability and is backing him to shine at
Barcelona.
"I read something about Wayne Rooney telling that Memphis went to a reserve match playing with the kids and he arrived with this big Rolls Royce and his cowboy hat and that was a little bit of Memphis,”
Mourinho told
talkSPORT.
"Good guy, really good guy. Good professional. He is a really good professional, people can look at him and think this is another party boy.
"He is a good professional, I think he has got now his maturity in Lyon, which is what sometimes players need.
"Sometimes they go too early to the biggest clubs where they are not ready to cope with it and understand at the biggest clubs there is internal competition and you cannot play all the time.
"There are fantastic players to fight with you for a position. They lose a little bit of their sense of reality and they become a little bit childish, which was, in the end, what happened.
"When he decided to go to Lyon, it was a great move for him. Now he goes to Barcelona with maturity and a good football age.
"I believe the Barcelona culture of football will help him to live long in this important part of his career.
"Good memories of him and I repeat: he was a good professional."
Depay spent four-and-a-half seasons at Lyon after leaving the Red Devils permanently.
His game changed significantly in France as he was transformed from a tricky winger into a productive frontman as he was able to score 76 goals through 178 appearances.
Now he is approaching his peak as he prepares to link up with Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, and Antonio Griezmann at Barcelona.
DISCLAIMER! Sportmob does not claim ownership of any of the pictures posted on this website. Again, we do not host pictures or videos ourselves. Our authors merely link to the rightful owner. Lastly, Sportmob have carefully considered and reviewed all of its content. Despite that, it is possible that some information might be out-dated or incomplete.