Name: Memphis Depay
Born: February 13, 1994 in Moordrecht, Netherlands
Position: Attacker/Winger
Pro club: PSV Eindhoven
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Why he’s in the news
A breakout star on a Dutch team that has been exceeding expectations, the 20 year old is showing off his goal scoring abilities in Brazil. He’s got a grand total of two goals in his senior Dutch national team career: The long distance game-winner against Australia, and the second in a 2-0 win over Chile that secured top spot in Group B for the Netherlands.
He’s special because
Are we witnessing the birth of a star at this World Cup? Depay has all the skills of an impact player: speed, power, vision, creativity, a scoring threat from distance and the guile to attack defenders head on. The youngest Dutch World Cup goal-scorer ever, DePay scored 13 goals for PSV in a revelatory 2013-14 season. The campaign made enough of an impression on Dutch manager Luis Van Gaal to earn a call to the World Cup squad, despite having played just one minute of qualifying.
Club career
Call it the value of getting off to a good start—Depay scored within minutes of his debut for PSV in a 2011 Dutch Cup match. Then he got another. He was just 17 years old. In 2012 he took the next step, making his debut in the Eredivisie. He would end the 2011-12 season with three goals in eight appearances. Depay’s real breakout came this past season where his attacking instincts would lead him to combined seven assists and a dozen goals, lead the league in shots taken and made 32 league appearances for the Rood-Witten.
International career
Apart from the last-minute substitute appearance he made against Turkey in October, his super-sub appearances at this World Cup is Memphis Depay’s senior international career. He does have a noteworthy body of work to look back on from his junior days, however, having scored eight goals in seven games with the Dutch U19s and scoring the match winner in the 2011 U17 European Championship final against Germany.
His most famous moment
Depay’s goal against Australia in the Netherlands’ second match in Brazil not only finally killed off a surprisingly resilient Aussie squad, it made many the world over sit up and take notice of the kid with, let’s be honest, the coolest name at the World Cup.
Interesting fact
Depay is hardly unique in the soccer world for being extensively tattooed, but he may be alone in the ranks of pro footballers in having a tattoo inside his mouth. Depay has succesvol (successful, in Dutch) tattooed on the inside of his lower lip. Presumably to provide career inspiration when he’s flossing.
He said it
“I am living in a nice world right now,” Depay told a press conference last week. “It is very nice to play on this stage and do my thing. I am very happy. I became a better player in recent weeks. I learned a lot from the players around me. They made me wiser.”
