Will Memphis Manage To Bounce Back From A Disappointing 1st Season?

Will Memphis Manage To Bounce Back From A Disappointing 1st Season?

It seems that since the early 2000s Manchester United have made a habit of signing at least one player every couple of seasons, who comes with a lot of promise but has trouble delivering the goods in his first season like young Memphis.

It would not be that big of a problem if those players wouldn’t have cost the club over £250million. Sure, every club has its disappointments but maybe spending in a more prudent way would prevent expectations on form such as these seen at Old Trafford. First here’s a list of the players who cost Manchester a quarter billion minus the latest addition who according to the Mirror, could be on his way after less than a year spent in the UK.

Juan Veron – £28,100,000 – Cost this much 14 years ago. Made 77 appearances and provided just 9 assists and scored 11 goals.


Owen Hargreaves – £17,000,000 – Signed back in 2007. Made just 39 appearances for United in 4 years but did win the title and Champions League in his first year.

Anderson – £15,000,000 – Brought in as a massive talent around the same time as Nani, he faded away after 8 years of struggle in which he averaged 10 appearances per season.

Dimitar Berbatov – £30,750,000 – for this much money, to average around 14 goals per season, Berbatov was a little disappointing. He was a good substitute but not good enough to cost what would probably translate in today’s money somewhere around £50-60million.

Ashley Young – £17,000,000 – Peaked when moving from Villa but disappointed with 13 goals in 139 appearances across 5 years.

Wilfried Zaha – £15,000,000 – Signed in 2013, he was sent on loan continuously and only made 4 appearances for United.

Ander Herrera – £29,000,000 – A little overpriced, Herrera joined United in the 2014-2015 season and was expected to be the perfect pairing for Mata and the perfect replacement for Giggs or Scholes. Unfortunately, his performances so far have failed to justify the price despite providing flashes of his real talent.

Ángel Di María – £59,700,000 – Probably one of the biggest cases of mishandling a player who has true value. At least the club got 2/3 of their money back.

Getting back to the story at hand, it looks like another player is in danger of becoming just an overpriced star who cannot adapt to United’s demands. Memphis Depay could be leaving this summer after an up-and-down season which was supposed to be his career peak. He was seen as the next Ronaldo but faded away after Martial started dominating a position that is not even his favorite to have. United paid £25,000,000 for Depay who was known for being player with huge potential after his breakout season in Holland last campaign. He has potential just like many others on the list but he needs something more. Hopefully someone will figure out how to make him shine before he loses his confidence and gets sent away to a less demanding club. It will be hard though as Manchester United have a good thing going on when it comes to the attacking line.