Memphis Depay is fighting for his Manchester United future after being excluded from the squad for the Europa League match at Fenerbahce on Thursday and Dick Advocaat, the Turkish club’s manager and Depay’s first head coach, believes he may have to leave Old Trafford to further his career.
José Mourinho chose a 21-man squad for the trip to Istanbul yet despite the competition being a low priority, the manager could find no place for Depay.
While the United manager confirmed the Dutch forward is not injured the 22-year-old has yet to start a Premier League or Europa League game for Mourinho, six of his seven appearances having come from the bench.
Advocaat gave Depay his senior debut for PSV Eindhoven in a 3-1 Europa League win at Napoli in December 2012 and said of his countryman: “The potential is there for him to be a good player. You cannot lose that, he has the quality to be a top player, but the problem for him is that there are so many quality players in that squad.
“So for himself it is important to start playing regularly at the age that he is at – otherwise the way, I think, is that maybe he has to find another solution [club] because he is too good to sit on the bench. I still believe in him, he has the right mentality, the right character to play for United, but there are so many options there. Regular playing time will help his progression.”
Advocaat, whose Fenerbahce side have four points and are third in Group A, two points behind United, who are second, confirmed Robin van Persie is fit for selection. “He was not injured. I just saved him. It was 5-0 at that time,” Advocaat said of replacing the striker on 66 minutes of the 5-0 win against Kardemir on Sunday, in which Van Persie scored twice.
