Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay have been two fringe players constantly linked with a move away from Manchester United. Both are expected to have a swift exit from Old Trafford with several clubs eyeing their signature in the January transfer window and according to the reports from Mirror, Everton manager Ronald Koeman has confirmed that he will be looking to sign both as he believes that they would complement the Everton team extremely well.
Koeman has enjoyed a reasonably good start to his life at Everton. Barring the 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea just before the international break, the team has been doing well to sit seventh on the table. One of the highlights of the team has been their defending, and they had one of the best records in the division just before the Chelsea game.
The Dutch manager is obviously placing a lot of faith on being compact and tough to beat; these are a major shift away from the Roberto Martinez’ philosophy of pushing people forward in the hope of scoring more goals than the opposition. Koeman will be able to stamp his authority on the team only after signing more players of his wish. It seems that the club are also ready to back him after recently underwent a change in ownership. Everton are the latest club to come under the ownership of billionaire, but the club are looking highly unlikely to simply throw money at new signings.
Instead, Koeman believes that he will be after value for money additions and no better than Schneiderlin and Depay in this regard. United paid more than £50 million for the two players, but expectations are that they will receive less than half the figure. One of the major question marks would be reviving their careers. Koeman believes that he has the ability to bring back the best in them. He said:
“I would like to have him [Depay]. He’s a young player with individual qualities and a threat. He’s efficient. I would like him in January.
“I think he is an interesting player. He has great individual qualities. He just needs to play games.”
After having not played a regular first-team football for a long time, Manchester United fans have not been able to see the best of Schneiderlin and Depay largely because they are still rustic. Given a regular run-out in the first team, they can certainly make a major difference. After all, these are players who were performing extremely well when United signed them.
Depay, at just 22 years of age, may actually turn out into a Romelu Lukaku-like signing with his incredible talent yet to be tapped fully. Schneiderlin, 26, is someone for the first team straight away. The French international has spent the last eight years in English football and will need no introduction to life in the Premier League. Bringing these two players could make a lot of difference to Everton’s second half of the campaign.
