Lyon’s Memphis Depay fails to rub salt into Everton’s wounds

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Ronald Koeman admitted he tried to sign Depay for Everton from Manchester United in January – but the winger chose Ligue 1 and Lyon instad.

Despite Memphis Depay’s short-lived and ill-fated spell at Manchester United, Everton manager Ronald Koeman was still confident that his compatriot could make the grade in the Premier League.

The Sun reported prior to the January transfer window that Koeman was keen to rescue the Dutch winger from his Old Trafford nightmare, only for Depay to eventually make a move to Ligue 1 side Lyon instead.

And, via the Daily Star, Koeman admitted prior to Everton’s Europa League clash with Lyon on Thursday night that he missed out on the chance to bring the former PSV star to Goodison Park.

“Of course the club didn’t get an agreement with Man United and Depay chose to move to Lyon,” Koeman said.

On the evidence of last night’s performance, however, few on Merseyside may be rueing the club’s failure to get the one time Manchester United number seven in the bag.

Lyon piled more pressure on the beleaguered Koeman with a 2-1 win at Goodison, Bertrand Traore sealing the win late in the second half just a matter of minutes after a thunderous Ashley Williams header cancelled out Nabil Fekir’s early penalty.

Depay, however, was on the periphery throughout and even missed a glorious chance to double Lyon’s lead on the stroke of half time. The 23-year-old shot straight at Jordan Pickford, however, and that was his performance summed up.

Depay fluttered without looking particularly threatening. In fact, he was even outperformed by Nikola Vlasic, the young Croatian winger who arrived from Hajduk Split for a fraction of the fee it would have cost to take the Dutchman to Merseyside.

Not much is going right for Koeman at the moment but at least Depay didn’t rub salt into the wounds.