LONDON. — In the end, it was over at Sixfields. A windy night down at lowly Northampton Town and Memphis Depay’s first start under Jose Mourinho. Managers cannot be won over against League One opposition in the EFL Cup, but they can certainly be lost. After 55 minutes of toil and inability to impress himself on inferior markers, Depay was hooked.

From that moment forth, his Manchester United career was over.

The sight of Depay trudging off and Mourinho disappointedly tapping his head presented the definitive point of no return, but some team-mates had held misgivings for almost 12 months by then.

Murmurings about his attitude among a selection of senior players were already beginning to surface by October of his first season, when the £25million signing arrived in a blaze of camouflage cars, tattoos and ill-advised quotes.

Not prepared to put in the hard yards, one claimed, exasperated with his lack of effort at Carrington. Professionals can size up which players will and will not make it easily and minds were quickly made up on Depay.

Mourinho definitely saw it similarly, the winger only afforded only another 46 minutes of game time after that night in Northampton on September 21.

His new chapter is in Lyon, who will pay around £16million up front with add-ons taking the deal to close to £22m. United have done some excellent recovery business and will own a buy-back clause should he turn his career around.

Depay will claim regret at a lack of opportunities at Old Trafford, sorrow that his dream move never worked out, but the Dutchman never did enough to help achieve what he wanted to.

That he was too full of himself, definitely in the first few months, was another suggestion by a player. In essence, Depay owned the swagger of idol Cristiano Ronaldo but without that determination which makes the Portuguese an absolute phenomenon.

The swagger was shelved last February after he was blamed for gifting Chelsea a late equaliser at Stamford Bridge when on as a substitute. That he did not understand how to operate when protecting a lead raised serious alarm. He was relegated to the Under-21s that week.

He is talented, of that there is no question, and he will find a home in one of Europe’s top leagues eventually. And there was an improvement in his dedication this season, but it came too late. He will go down as one of the most disappointing signings United have ever made.

Depay asked to leave in November and Mourinho refused to stand in his way, just months after he’d deployed flattery in an attempt to trigger a response.

“You can see him driving a nice car and you think this guy is not thinking about football. But that is not the case,’ Mourinho said in August.

“The kid thinks about football, the kid suffers because he is frustrated with what happened last season where he lost all his confidence.

“But he will be back. I see a good boy, a good kid, a good professional. I don’t care what people think.

“Of course I want him to be part of my squad. Last season was last season and I don’t want to go into that too much but I know the players I’ve watched.”

Mourinho actually claimed similar last month during a surprisingly impassioned defence of Depay, but the scars are still on show from last season.

Louis van Gaal triumphed the player he offered an international chance to in the year running up to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. There must have been a bond between the pair, with Van Gaal presumed to have acted as a father figure.

Yet Van Gaal eventually grew tired of Depay of last season. He started four of the last 20 Premier League games having been given an immediate run in the first few months and the nadir came in FA Cup final week.

Depay was not named in Van Gaal’s squad for the dramatic victory over Crystal Palace, an embarrassing snub which saw the player opt not to travel with the squad to Wembley the day before the game.

When senior stars talk about his attitude, this is the sort of concern they have. But there are critics of United too over their handling of the 22-year-old.

He endured a troubled childhood, his father Dennis leaving when he was only four. He would often be found crying when at training in the small town of Moordrecht.

His mother found a new man, who had 15 children of his own, and the problems Depay encountered with his extended family were so severe that he required a life coach when at PSV Eindhoven’s academy.

Joost Leenders stopped his sessions with Depay just over a year before the big move and might well have advised him not to ask for the No. 7 shirt on arrival.

Depay has never spoken about the harm he faced as a child – perhaps he never will – but it cannot be overlooked that a precocious young man moved to England alone, handed a salary five times larger than at PSV and left to his own devices.

That is tough for anybody, only amplified for someone who has a history of psychological complexities. He appears more stable now, with girlfriend Lori Harvey – daughter of American comedian Steve Harvey – while his flashy nature is what Depay will be remembered by in Manchester.

His fleet of cars put most footballers to shame, the designer clothes all too apparent when he bounced through Manchester Airport in his first few weeks as a United player decked out in £10 000 worth of Louis Vuitton accessories.

Depay’s materialism was criticised Ruud Gullit this time last year. ‘I am a fan, and I will keep my faith in him but he must do something about the fact that he has been labelled the worst buy in the Premier League in 2015,’ Gullit said.

“He needs to deliver. He has a lot of qualities, but to fulfil his potential he has to stay low-key in his personal life.

“If you don’t perform, you must not turn up in a brand new Rolls Royce and a new Hummer at the training ground.”

The one long-term regret Depay will have is that he was never well-oiled out on the grass at Carrington. — AFP.

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