Mourinho Wishes Memphis Well At Lyon

Jose Mourinho has wished Memphis Depay well for the future following the Dutchman's move from Manchester United to French club Olympique Lyonnais.

The Netherlands winger signed for the Reds in 2015 after impressing with PSV Eindhoven and his national team, and took on the no.7 shirt at Old Trafford.

After making his debut against Tottenham Hotspur, he went on to make 28 starts and a further 25 substitute appearances for the Reds, scoring seven times. The 22-year-old's sole appearance in Mourinho's United eleven came in the EFL Cup victory at Northampton Town in September.

When asked at Friday's pre-match press conference why Memphis had not become a regular starter in his one-and-a-half seasons at United, the manager replied:

"I think it’s difficult for me to answer because it didn’t work also last season. From my perspective, instead of saying, or trying to say why it didn’t work, it’s easier for me and, he deserves this, to say that he was a fantastic professional.

"The guy is a fantastic professional, he’s a kid that respected everyone and worked hard to have more chances, a kid that was frustrated because he was not having that. I only have good things to say about him, and I think this is much more important.

"If I can find a little reason, it’s to say that he is a player from one position - the only position - where we have overbooking. He is a winger, and wingers is what we have more [of]. It’s the position where it’s more difficult to have chances, where it’s more difficult to be the next choice, because we never have problems in this position. We have [Jesse] Lingard, we have [Juan] Mata, we have [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan, we have [Anthony] Martial, we have Ashley Young, we have Marcus Rashford. It’s a position where we have maybe six possibilities, even [Wayne] Rooney played a few times from the left.

"We even have difficulties when we want to do rotation; even when I was rotating and trying to rest some players or trying to play some in the Europa League and another in the League Cup or FA Cup, I had seven guys for two positions.

"For me, I would stay with these two things. By one side, he’s a fantastic professional, and by another we had too many players in his position."

Following a question about whether United have first option or a buy-back clause on Memphis, the manager said: "Of course, because, potentially, he is a very good player. I think when Mr [Louis] van Gaal decided to buy him, he did well. He knew him very well from the national team, he was very young in the World Cup, he had flashes of top quality. 

"He was playing well in Holland too; we know that the Dutch league is not the same, but he was showing very good things. I think Mr. van Gaal and United did well to buy him - he didn’t succeed in these 18 months, I would say, but he’s very young. I think it’s important for the club to keep control of this talent and we wish that he plays very well at Olympique Lyon. And why not, to come back here, because everybody likes him."

Staff at United would like to join Jose in wishing Memphis the very best of luck at his new club.

Credit: Manutd.com