Monday 20 April 2015 14:48, UK
Memphis Depay would not be a first-choice pick for Manchester United if they bought him, according to Tony Gale.
PSV confirmed on Sunday that United have enquired about the leading scorer in the Eredivisie, who helped his club win the league championship with a goal in their 4-1 win over Heerenveen at the weekend.
Technical director Marcel Brands said Depay, who has 15 international caps for Holland, would cost much more than the £14.5m Tottenham reportedly bid for the player.
But despite that price tag, Gale thinks the 21-year-old would face a battle to get into the starting line-up at Old Trafford.
Speaking to the Morning View on Sky Sports News, he said: "I don’t think he’s one that would go straight into the team with the wide players that they’ve got at the club.
“They’ve got Juan Mata, Antonio Valencia who can play there and Ashley Young who is in good form at the moment.
“So I think he’d be one for the future. I saw him play against Turkey and he was a little bit hit and miss. He would do the difficult things and then mess up the easy things.
“They very rarely got behind the defence in that game and they were very fortunate. Manchester United don’t need wide players, they need central players.”
Former England U21 coach Stuart Pearce also felt the potential signing of Depay would be part of a restructuring for next season and beyond and that it could also be a sign of the tactical direction in which Louis van Gaal wants to take the team.
“It’s a market that he knows very well and as a 21-year-old he’d very much be something for the future,” said Pearce. “It will be interesting to see if they play the Dutch way with two wingers in the future and this might be an indicator towards that.”
