By DAN KARELL
One of the Netherlands’ rising stars is taking his talents to England.
PSV Eindhoven announced on Thursday morning that they’ve reached an agreement with Manchester United over the transfer of winger and goalscorer Memphis Depay. The 21-year-old has scored an impressive 21 goals in 28 league matches as PSV ended Ajax’s run-year run as champions by securing the title with three games in hand.
Reports in England claim the transfer fee to be in the region of £25 million (approximately $38 million). The transfer is subject to the player completing a medical this summer.
According to PSV’s official website, Depay has reached an agreement for his contract with Man United as well, speeding up his move to join countryman and former national team coach Louis Van Gaal at Old Trafford.
Even at his young age, the speedy Depay has already made 15 national team appearances, including four appearances in the 2014 World Cup and two starts in Euro 2016 qualifying. Depay scored two goals at the World Cup.
Here are some more stories to start off your Thursday:
AGENT CLAIMS TOURE HAS 90 PERCENT CHANCE OF LEAVING MAN CITY
Yaya Toure’s days at Manchester City are starting to look numbered.
The 31-year-old engine in the Man City midfield has struggled to find his form in the second half of the English Premier League season, and the player’s agent Dimitri Seluk told Sky Sports News on Thursday that he’s 90 percent sure that Toure will wave Man City good bye at the end of the season.
“It’s 90% certain he’ll leave Manchester City this summer,” Seluk told Sky Sports. “Nothing has been decided – we are waiting until the end of the season.”
Seluk claimed that there are three teams interested in the Ivory Coast international, with Real Madrid, Inter Milan, and Juventus considered the three fighting for Toure’s services.
This season, Toure has eight goals in 26 EPL games, a strong showing but still nothing close to his 20-goal output last season, helping lead Man City to the EPL title in 2014.
SPANISH FOOTBALL FEDERATION FIRES WARNING SHOTS
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) hasn’t taken too kindly to the decision from the Spanish government to have collective bargaining and even out the La Liga TV contracts among all teams, and has announced drastic action.
The RFEF announced that they will strike to oppose the government decision on May 16, meaning that all games from that date on are at this point suspended. That includes a key match between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid and the last two match-days of the season, plus the Copa Del Rey final between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. All league games in all divisions would be suspended.
The RFEF are claiming that they were not involved in talks with the government over the new law passed and both they and the player’s union have come out against it.
QUICK KICKS
Bayern Munich could be without Franck Ribery for the rest of the season as his ankle injury is not getting better. (REPORT)
Juventus are reportedly interested in signing Zenit St. Petersburg midfielder Axel Witsel. (REPORT)
Karim Benzema returned to full training with Real Madrid on Thursday after recovering from a three-week absence due to a knee injury. (REPORT)
Although Ilkay Gundogan said he would not sign a new contract with Borussia Dortmund, Gundogan said there’s a chance he’ll still be a member of Dortmund for next season. (REPORT)
Nuri Sahin will miss the rest of the season with a groin injury. (REPORT)
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What do you think of these reports? Do you see Depay starring in the EPL? Where do you see Toure moving to?
Share your thoughts below.
@charlie he also plays center forward, regardless not sure I agree that explains the difference in transfer price and top 4 interes . Also Jozy was 23 at the time, sure older but not by much.
@rob Jozy was out of form for sure, however, I’ve come to believe a lot had to do with the poor team around him. Sund remains mired in relegation form…still can’t score goals with or without him.
So Depay to ManU for nearly 40 mil after a 21 goal season… The best Jozy could do was Sunderland for about 10 mil after 23 goals and 15 the year prior. If your wondering, Depay scored 12 last year. All the same league. In addition, Depay had more appearances over the last two seasons. Ha, it pays to be born in Europe…
Depay is a winger not a striker and he just turned 21.
It’s always a gamble. Sunderland took a gamble on Jozy and they lost big. I’m for one thankful to them.
Plus DiCanio got fired about a month after Jozy joined and Jozy was stuck playing for a manager who didn’t buy him and didn’t rate him. To be fair, Jozy didn’t exactly help his cause when he did play though. Personally, I think Sunderland are a clown club and I hope they go down.
For the right combination of money and birthday cake, it’s a possibility.
Well in sir.
Does anyone think Yaya would come to MLS for the right price?
yes, everyone’s got a price.
sure, but that won’t happen because Juve would likely accept an offer that sends Yaya and Jovetić (plus cash) to them in exchange for Pogba. City is apparently ready to do that.
Is Spanish TV government-run? How can someone decide unilaterally how money will be distrributed? (Mind you, I agree that the money should be shared more evenly.) It all makes MLS look positiviely transparent!
Depay is a good player but Man U need to address their defense this summer and I don’t mean by signing Chris Smalling to a long-term extension.
All signs point to Man Utd signing Hummels and Gundogan. If we can offload Di Maria and reinvest all that I see this being a great transfer window
Hummels has been in quite poor form this year so I wouldn’t feel overly confident on him. Also I would be a bit surprised if United sell Di Maria on, they aren’t going to want to a take a huge loss and there is only about 5 clubs in the world that can pay anywhere near what they paid for him.
yeah, depay’s a good pickup for any team, but as with di maria, i’m not sure how he fits into van gaal’s ideal 3-5-2 scheme. i’ve not been impressed with his tracking back in the few games i’ve seen him play, so it’s hard to see him playing the demading winger role van gaal wants.
Well it’s not like Van Gaal has personally coached him before or knows anything about his game. So I’ll take your word for it that Van Gaal couldn’t fit him into the system.
right, which is why i said i wasn’t sure…good takedown, tho