Every now and again in the Football Transfer Tavern, our resident punters stop for a minute and think while watching Revista de la Liga on our large projector whether the exploits of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the best the world has ever seen on a football pitch.
A current glance at their respective Wikipedia profiles reveals that Messi has registered 286 league goals in 315 appearances for Barcelona while Ronaldo has struck 225 goals in 200 appearances for Real Madrid; stats which surely put the duo up there with the likes of Diego Maradona and Pele.
The sheer fact then that the football press has been billing Manchester United’s new signing Memphis Depay as the ‘new Cristiano Ronaldo’ must be filling Red Devils supporters with incredible hope that they may just boast the world’s next superstar on their books.
Naturally, Messi and Ronaldo are a one off and United fans shouldn’t expect anybody, let alone Depay to immediately begin replicating the kind of scintillating form mentioned above but nevertheless, it seems like they have a special talent on their hands.
Thinking along this theme, we have come up with five reasons for Red Devils fans why Depay can be rightly or wrongly considered to be the new Ronaldo.
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Click on the man himself below to reveal the 5 reasons why Memphis Depay can be considered the new Cristiano Ronaldo.
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His goals to game ratio
The sheer fact that Cristiano Ronaldo’s amount of La Liga goals actually outweighs his number of appearances clearly shows that he is incredibly clinical in front of goal.
While Red Devils fans will hope Depay can go on to emulate such a feat, the Netherlands international ended his spell in the Eredivisie having plundered 39 goals in 90 appearances for PSV Eindhoven.
Considering he is just 21-years-old, this is a goal every 2.3 games and when looking closer at the stats, Depay boasts those selfish qualities in his game that they say all the greatest forwards possess.
In the 2013/14 campaign, Depay averaged 5.1 shots every game while this past season, that figure rose to 5.5 shots.
What’s interesting however is that his shot conversion rate rose to 13.6% in 2014/15 from 7.4% showing that he is becoming more lethal in front of goal, demonstrated by the fact he registered 22 league goals for PSV this term ensuring he won the Golden Boot ahead of his team-mate Luuk de Jong who got himself 20 goals.
Despite this hot streak coming in an inferior division, these stats will give Manchester United fans hope that he can relay this kind of form in England.
His versatility across the front line
Given where Memphis has been deployed thus far in his career, he is clearly not a one trick pony!
Able to be accommodated in his favoured left wing position where he can cut in on his right foot, Depay is equally adept on the right wing as well as more centrally as a false nine or even centre forward.
At the World Cup under Louis van Gaal, Memphis emerged from the bench twice against Australia and Chile in the group stages to register his two goals struck at the competition and both of these came from a left centre forward’s role, having replaced Bruno Martins Indi and Jeremain Lens from the bench on both these occasions.
We’ve seen with Ronaldo over his career that due to his goalscoring, he has been converted into a centre forward to some degree but during his time at Old Trafford, he was primarily deployed as a right winger.
With Depay able to play any of these roles at present, you’d imagine that he’d be deployed on the left wing in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Angel Di Maria performing on the right, Wayne Rooney in the hole and a fit and firing Robin van Persie (United fans will hope) up top.
With Depay’s physicality set to improve in the Premier League, he may be converted to a centre forward as his career progresses much like Ronaldo.
He fancies himself… just a bit
Remind you of anyone?
Memphis Depay’s temperament has been a hot topic ever since his breakthrough season with PSV Eindhoven in 2013/14.
As mentioned previously, Depay clearly boasts a selfish streak in his game with his average shots per game having risen in line with his conversion rate but back in his earlier days with PSV, this willingness to try and do everything seemed to be a problem for opinion leaders at the Philips Stadion.
Former PSV player Rene van der Gijp once claimed: “From kickoff, he runs everywhere except in his own position! He gets in everyone else’s way. I would tell him his first responsibility is to his own position. The system you play needs order.”
“There is no one at PSV who tells him: do things normally. Actually PSV lack someone like Rinus Michels (former Holland coach), who would give him a clip around the ear so he remembers where he is.”
At a young age, Ronaldo was a player who was far more concerned with stepovers and flair than playing for the overall good of the team and in Depay’s case, it has taken a while for him to lose his individualism.
Nevertheless, under the guidance of Louis van Gaal, you’d imagine that he’d be able to tame this and get him playing for not only himself but the good of the team also.
His wicked ability from free kicks
When you think of the great free kick takers of the game in years gone by you’ll think of David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo himself, Ian Harte and of course Juninho Pernambucano.
Well over the course of the next few seasons you may just be adding the name of Memphis Depay to that illustrious list with the Dutchman starting to showcase a potent accuracy from these set plays.
Not boasting a signature wide-legged stance like Ronaldo as yet, Depay’s free kick prowess was showcased expertly in PSV’s 4-1 victory over Heerenveen in April (see clip below), the game in which Phillip Cocu’s side wrapped up the Eredivisie title, their first since 2008, breaking the domination of Ajax in the process.
It seems that despite whatever the distance, Depay boasts the ability to bend shots beyond opposing keepers.
With United having boasted the services of Beckham and Ronaldo in years gone by, they can look forward to Depay emulating such wonder strikes from next season forth.
Moving from a similar level division at a young age
While it is true that Cristiano Ronaldo departed Sporting Lisbon for Manchester United aged just 18-years-old while Memphis Depay is arriving at United at 21-years-old, the fact they are moving from a similar level of competition must be taken into account.
What’s also different is the fact that Ronaldo only managed 25 appearances (3 goals) for Sporting prior to arriving at Old Trafford whereas Depay managed 90 (39 goals), becoming a key cog in their success in the process.
That said, the Dutch Eredivisie and Portuguese Primeira Liga are a similar level of competition, historically dominated by three teams each in Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord, and Porto, Benfica and Sporting, and the fact Ronaldo and Depay departed these divisions at the beginning of their careers bears some similarity.
It has been a topic of conversation for the Sky Sports pundits in recent weeks that more and more young British pros would benefit from following the Gareth Bale example in experiencing an overseas division for their development and in Depay, he is only likely to get better in a higher level of competition such as the Premier League.
If he can go on to achieve even half the success Ronaldo has enjoyed in his career to date, he’ll be a name nobody ever forgets!
