Our role in his decision making process
Based on our data intelligence applications we found five clubs that met the requirements and qualities Depay was looking for.
In the winter transfer window of the 2016/17 season, Memphis Depay made the move from Manchester United to French Ligue 1 club Olympique Lyonnais. Depay had spent a difficult 18 months in Manchester after being seen as one of the hottest prospects in the world during the early years of his career.
Memphis and his agents at SEG enlisted the help of SciSports to deliver a data-driven report to help them decide Memphis’ next-step.
The challenge
Memphis completed a dream transfer to Manchester United in the summer of 2015 after a successful time at PSV Eindhoven and several strong performances during the 2014 World Cup. In Manchester he was reunited with Louis van Gaal, who he had previously played under for the Dutch national team. Although he played a total of 29 Premier League matches in his first season he was unable to stamp his mark on the team.
After a change of manager (Mourinho came in, van Gaal left) Memphis’ playing time reduced dramatically to only 20 Premier League minutes in the first half of his second season. Memphis was eager to regain the type of form he had shown at PSV, and decided to weigh up his options for a transfer.
Our solution
SciSports’ Datascouts composed a Player Report for Depay. The output of this report was a list of clubs which suited the requirements of the player. The report highlighted five suitable clubs for the next step in the career of Memphis Depay, based on SciSports’ algorithms.
The report contained in-depth analysis of several factors, including the playing style of clubs and managers, competition in his favoured positions and other key points based on Memphis’ personal wishes. A SciSports delegation visited him at home to get to know his preferences. To reveal one of them – Memphis wanted to have more freedom when attacking so he could make optimum use of one of his key qualities; creativity.
What Memphis Depay has to say about SciSports
SciSports helped me to find the best club according to my playing style.
The results
Partly based on our report, Memphis chose to dismiss a number of clubs, including Everton, Fenerbahce and several teams in Italy and Spain, in favour of joining Olympique Lyonnais on a four-year permanent deal. While acclimatising to French football he scored 5 and assisted 8 goals in 17 games during the second half of the 2016/17 season.
His first full season at Lyon, the 2017/18 season, resulted in 19 goals and 13 assists. This made him the most valuable player of the French Ligue 1 in terms of goals and assists. In the 36 league matches he played in that season, it was clear that Depay had recovered well from his disappointing time in Manchester and was back on top form.
Since then, Memphis has continued to shine at Lyon by becoming one of their star performers both in Ligue 1 and, most notably, the UEFA Champions League. The forward helped Lyon reach the semi-finals of Europe’s flagship competition in 2019/20 which included victories over Juventus and Manchester City.
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