Player Spotlight – Tottenham target Memphis Depay |

Memphis Depay have been compared with Cristiano Ronaldo because of his playing style, but does he have what it takes to become a Premier League revelation if he would make the transfer to Tottenham Hotspur writes Martijn Hilhorst.

As a young kid you could see his potential, but after a combination of negative events in his young life he became a player with some mentality issues. The turnover in his career came in the name of Henk Fraser (current coach of ADO Den Haag). The former defender is known for his disciplined way of coaching his players. Apparently it helped the young Memphis to commit truly to football. His PSV- coach at the time was Fred Rutten (current coach Feyenoord) and he saw a bright future for the winger. In September 2011 he debuted for PSV in a cup match versus VVSB (0-8) where he scored the opening goal and later on the 0-5.

He made his Eredivisie debut on 26 February 2012 in the home match versus Feyenoord (3-2). His first goal came only a few weeks later on the 18th of March in an easy victory over Heerenveen (5-1). He finally played eight matches in which he scored three times. In 2012-13 he officially became a first squad player and he was used quite often for a player his age. In 20 matches he managed to score twice.

His career went sky high before the start of 2013-14 after the departure of left winger Mertens to Napoli. Now a year later we could definitely conclude that Memphis is a player which could make any right-back dizzy. Looking to some of his statistics it makes your head spin. An unbelievable number of shots and dribbles.

The difference among the number two Kostic is only six, but the success rate from Depay speaks for him. The whole top five are as expected wingers, but Depay is the only inverted winger which makes it harder to complete a dribble.

There is a negative side to his playing style, the first and most obvious conclusion is that Depay is to trigger-happy which you could clearly see at his ‘SCR’. But decision-making comes with age. And also with practicing and hard working which will not be a problem with his mentality.

Memphis may have some problems with making the right decision, but that doesn’t mean he is an egocentric footballer if you look to his created chances. Only the absolute brilliant Tadic finished above him. The difference in amount of CC’s with his teammates are immense. After Depay comes Stijn Schaars with fifty and as third comes Jürgen Locadia with 33. Combine those two players and they still have three less then Tottenham Hotspur target Depay.

After an excellent season followed the World Cup in Brazil where he had four appearances and he scored twice and gave one assist. He also became the youngest player for the Netherlands to score on a WC with 20 years, 4 months, 5 days (via @OptaJohan).

After a struggling season with PSV it became clear that Depay, under any circumstances, could perform. He is an exceptional talent which proved that he not only could outshine in the Eredivisie but also on the highest level versus the best opponents possible. It is hard to predict if he is ready for the Premier League, but one thing is clear that with his current form Tottenham won’t be the only club interested in him.

*All stats courtesy of WhoScored and Squawka, via Opta.