Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is thrilled with the impact his new No.7 Memphis Depay has made to the team. The 21-year-old scored two and assisted the third in United’s 3-1 win over Club Brugge, something that has delighted the boss.

“I want to kiss him tonight. I’m very happy for him because a player needs that.” said Van Gaal.

“Hopefully he shall continue to score. I have confidence in him. He showed what he can do tonight. He scored two goals and got the assist for the other.”

Memphis is happy he got his campaign underway, but is ruing the chances he missed to score a hat-trick:

“I’m happy that I scored – and of course I’m happy that we won – but I must admit I’m a bit disappointed because I could have scored the last two chances and got a hat-trick.”

“I will think about that tonight and forget about it tomorrow.”

Van Gaal was happy to hear Memphis’ frustrations as it shows his appetite for the game:

“When you score two goals and the assist also, normally in the world you are the hero.”

“For a trainer-coach, it’s different. He’s never satisfied. I like that. You have to know what you are doing and also what you can do and then your desire to improve is higher. And that’s Memphis.”

So it’s Newcastle United on Saturday in a game that could go either way. Rooney will certainly need to up his game, but if Memphis can produce a third of the performance he did against Brugge then the Tyneside club could be in a lot of trouble.

[All quotes via Sky Sports]