No, that evening, Memphis Depay did not return home. The Dutch international, then a player for Olympique Lyonnais, slipped away from Décines, the OL training center, and took off on a plane. Some people are already fuming: he’s gone to celebrate. The truth is quite different. “I saw him leave Lyon and go back and forth to Rotterdam,” says Jean-Michel Aulas, its president between 2017 and 2021. He went there to have dinner with his mother, on the evening of his birthday. The next day, he returned for training. »
The former president of Lyon admits, he did everything to extend Memphis Depay at the end of his contract at the end of the 2020-2021 season. Without succeeding. Since then, the Dutchman has wandered around Spain, at FC Barcelona then at Atlético de Madrid, without success. The Madrid club will not keep him next season, and the 30-year-old is still not sure about his future. However, Ronald Koeman retained him for Euro 2024. Even if he only played 1,222 minutes with the Colchoneros this season and suffered several injuries.