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Football

30th May 2016

Memphis Depay’s unprofessional training ground incident earns him Danny Blind’s sympathies

Really sums up his mindset

Ben Kiely

Confidence, composure, the right attitude – three things that have escaped Memphis Depay since he left the Eredivisie.

Once he was heralded as one of Europe’s hottest prospects, but following a very disappointing debut season in the Premier League, Memphis Depay has been labelled as one of the biggest flops of the 2015/16 campaign.

The Dutch winger has failed to live up to the hype generated by the hefty £25 million transfer fee Manchester United splashed out on to prise him away from PSV Eindhoven. The youngster knows it too, admitting recently that spending a large portion of his first season in the English top flight on the bench left him vexed.

It seems this poor attitude has followed him over from his club life to his duties with the Netherlands national team.

De Telegraaf  reported that Depay showcased a very unprofessional attitude in a training session prior to Holland’s 1-1 draw with Ireland on Friday night.

The squad were running a training drill called ‘hoedjes,’  a sprinting drill where the players run towards a set of cones. Although the rest of the Dutch squad did the drill properly, Depay turned back before the final cone, an act which didn’t go unnoticed by Danny Blind.

The Dutch boss spoke about the incident to De Telegraaf.

“I’m not saying anything about how he is or what he’s doing. I talk to him about that. He’s going through a tough phase. That is clear. It’s been a tough season for him, where he played less and less. That wasn’t good for his confidence and rhythm.”

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