Sunday, June 21, 2015

Southampton boss Ronald Koeman blasts foul-mouthed Memphis Depay

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has criticised new Manchester United signing Memphis Depay for his foul language and inconsistency.

The Dutch youngster has joined Manchester United in a £25million move from PSV Eindhoven, however, Koeman believes they have overpaid for the unpredictable 21-year-old. 

“I think they paid a lot of money," he told the Sunday Mirror. 

“Because it is United, where they already spent £200m on players like Angel Di Maria, such a big figure is put in perspective.

“He won’t play every game. I have learnt, while I am here in England, that Dutch players can’t make the jump to the top of the Premier League easily. And young players can’t play 38 games anyway.

“And I see another lack of quality with the Dutch kids, that I have also noticed with other young stars in the Premier League: they don’t communicate! They behave like individuals. Stuck to their smartphones."

The Saints boss has been tracking Depay for the last five years but was unimpressed by his attitude on and off the pitch. 

Ronald Koeman has criticised Memphis Depay for his attitude on and off the pitch

He said: “I watched the young Memphis Depay often enough. I was doing scouting work on him when he was playing in the Under-16 side for PSV Eindhoven, and there was this game against FC Twente.

“I always work with a list of five specific qualities: skills, tactics, physique, attitude, personality. I did not get any higher with my average ratings than 5.6 out of 10.

“And you know what brought the rating down most of all? The rating for his personality.

“It is only because of the fact that I could not go any lower than zero out of 10, otherwise I would have rated him well below that.

“It was absolutely disgusting, the foul language that boy used towards his fellow players and towards people in the crowd."

Koeman has admitted that Southampton did try to sign Depay last year, however he knew that once United came knocking, the south-coast side had no chance. 

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