MANCHESTER UNITED flop Memphis Depay quit the club and moved to Lyon to “play more freely”.
And the 26-year-old Dutch attacker became the first “laptop transfer” after using an analytics company to find him his perfect club.
Memphis was heralded as the next big thing when he made the move to Old Trafford from PSV Eindhoven for £31million back in 2015.
But after just two season, seven goals and 53 appearances, he packed his bags and headed to central France for just £16m.
That move was a big success, with Memphis one of the stand-out players in Ligue 1.
He is a regular started for Holland, and had scored 17 goals in just 22 games this season before coronavirus cancelled the campaign.
Now Giels Brouwer, who works for analytics company SciSports, has revealed how the Dutchman enlisted his help in quitting United.
Posting on Reddit, Brouwer explained: “Memphis made the first laptop transfer by asking us for transfer advice with data.
“The agent asked us to visit Memphis in Manchester where he was living at that moment.
“I went there with two colleagues and we watched a Champions League game on his couch.
“In our discussion about the next step in his career, he was really open about what he wanted and didn’t want.
“He wanted to play ‘more freely’, he wanted to be ‘important for the team’ and wanted to play in a big five competition with a coach that had a clear playing style.”
The Dutch international has since revealed in his book that Louis Van Gaal “played him out of position” and says Jose Mourinho never gave him a chance.
With Memphis’ instructions, Brouwer got to work trying to find a club that would be a perfect fit.
He continued: “We looked for instance at his playing style at PSV and the Dutch national team and compared that with the playing style of Man Utd.
“We noticed that he was involved with a lot more defensive actions at Man Utd.
“Regarding importance of the team, we looked for teams who didn’t have their star player on LW or LCF.
“For playing style, we investigated consistency, speed of passing and transition, use of flanks and defensive line, the height of the defenders.”
FRENCH LOVE AFFAIR
Memphis was so desperate to quit United that he told Brouwer that money was not one of the vital components of the transfer.
He insisted that playing style and how he could develop as a player outweighed how much he would be paid.
Brouwer added: “In the end, we wrote a report with five potential clubs that would suit his playing style and Lyon was one of them.
“Of course, it is up to the agent and the club to make a deal as our work ends there.”
But his French love affair could be coming to an end.
It has been reported that he could QUIT the club after they failed to qualify for Europe for the first time in 23-years.
The French season was ended by coronavirus, with Lyon outside of the European places in seventh.
