Memphis: I’ve gained 5kg at Man Utd – but it’s muscle

Mark Holmes
Memphis Depay: Manchester United man criticised by Ruud Gullit

Memphis Depay insists he is looking after himself at Manchester United and has put on five kilograms in muscle since moving to Old Trafford.

Depay admitted on Tuesday that his form had dipped for United as he continues to adapt to life at a new club in a new country, but the Netherlands forward has refuted speculation that he has a poor attitude to fitness.

Depay told De Telegraaf: “I get to eat well at home…It is cooked for me. I have my own cook.

“It’s all well-organised there. I’m doing things like that. But no, as a player that’s not offered (by Man United) for free.

“People do not know what I have to do to be fit…perhaps there is a picture that I’m not doing that, but that’s nonsense.

“Since I joined Manchester United I’ve gained five kilos. And that’s not fat, huh. Only muscle mass. It’s pretty bizarre. It’s also due to the heavy rhythm in England. I now weigh 85 kilos.

“When I stood on the scales first I thought, ‘OK, do you?’ My body is still developing. Now I’m a little heavier. I work a lot on my co-ordination and starting speed.”

Depay was even forced to defend wearing a hat on Tuesday.

“It’s a hat. It’s just a hat and I like it,” he told Dutch outlet NOS.

“People say that when you wear a hat you’re walking next to your shoes but I know it’s not true. People who are close to the club and the Dutch national team know that’s not true, so I don’t really care what the people from outside my area think about it. They don’t know what I’m doing to try to come back to my best again and they only see a guy arriving at the national team wearing a hat and that’s it.

“What will change if I don’t wear my hat? People will still talk, if it’s not about my hat, they talk about me arriving late to the team bus which wasn’t true anyway. Such stories are getting shared and the Dutch media also talk about it but I couldn’t care less. I’m just busy with my career and I’m busy with becoming a better player.”

Holland head coach Danny Blind was among those who questioned Depay’s fashion choice, but Depay said: “That’s his opinion. He doesn’t tell me I shouldn’t wear my hat. I also don’t tell other people what they should wear or not.

“People should wear whatever they want. Enough people wear a hat so I think people are overexaggerating a lot but the criticisms about me wearing a hat don’t get to me.”

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