Manchester United

Manchester United

Premier League • England

Ten Hag urges Man Utd to complete Barcelona raid as forward’s Serie A move falls through

Ferran Torres, Memphis Depay and Sergio Busquets

Erik ten Hag has told Manchester United chiefs to sign Memphis Depay, according to a report, after his switch to Italy collapsed.

Manchester United spent £25million to capture Depay from PSV back in summer 2015. The forward arrived with high expectations but didn’t deliver at Old Trafford.

Just seven goals and six assists came his way in 53 matches for the Red Devils. Due to this, Manchester United cut their losses in January 2017 and let Depay sign for Lyon.

As per The Guardian, United picked up £14.7m for the Dutchman. This means they took a loss of £10.3m on him.

Depay has since spoken about what went wrong for him at United. He says his team-mates were asking why Jose Mourinho wouldn’t give him a chance, which demonstrated his need to leave and get regular game time elsewhere.

Depay had a great spell with Lyon, notching 76 goals in 178 matches for them. This earned him a transfer to Barcelona last summer, following the expiry of his Lyon contract.

However, the 28-year-old hasn’t had the desired impact in Catalonia and is now surplus to requirements. This is because Robert Lewandowski is their new talisman.

As such, Barca will let Depay go before the transfer window closes.

Juventus have been in talks with Depay and Barca to try and organise a deal. Fabrizio Romano states they were close to reaching an agreement last week, but the move has now fallen through.

Juve have instead gone for Arkadiusz Milik to bolster their forward line. This leaves Depay effectively stranded at Barca.

Man Utd to give Memphis Depay transfer lifeline

Surprisingly, United could come to the rescue. According to reports on Wednesday, the Manchester outfit are looking into signing him.

And Spanish newspaper Sport come in with a big update. They claim Ten Hag wants to take advantage of the situation by picking up Depay on a free.

His Barca contract runs for another year, but they are willing to terminate it early to get him off the wage bill. Due to this, Ten Hag could improve his forward ranks without spending any money through a transfer fee.

The Dutch coach has apparently requested United land Depay before any other clubs open transfer talks. The report even claims his switch back to Manchester could be agreed today (Thursday).

There are a few reasons why this move is unlikely, despite Sport being insistent it could happen.

First of all, Depay will not have forgotten how tough his first United spell was. Having Ten Hag in charge will help, but Depay’s poor memories of United may see him reject their advances.

There is also the Cristiano Ronaldo issue. Depay will not want to join United if it means he has to play second fiddle to Ronaldo. This is one of the main reasons he is leaving Barca, as they have Lewandowski instead.

The only way this could work is if Ronaldo leaves Old Trafford in the next few days, as Depay could then be convinced to become his replacement.

Meanwhile, a pundit has given his verdict on whether Ronaldo will get back into the United team this weekend.