Ever wondered what Cristiano Ronaldo eats for breakfast? Follow him on Instagram. Want to win a signed pair of Lionel Messi’s boots? “Like” his Facebook page. How is Rio Ferdinand getting to training in the morning? Check Wayne Rooney’s Twitter feed.
Considering the scrutiny under which top-level players are placed by the media, the level of exposure that they often choose to give to their private lives appears a little self-defeating. Players continually walk a virtual tightrope, and the use of social media has contributed little to counter the age old cliché regarding footballers’ questionable intelligence.
At the other end of the spectrum, the principal location for fan debate has migrated to the online universe, leaving the lager-fuelled analysis of the pub pundit in its wake. Football now has a worldwide forum – open all hours to just about anyone, and unlike down the local, you won’t get sent on your way for being too loud.
The tribal nature of football fans is not diluted in the virtual world, either. If anything, the baiting of rival supporters has reached new heights – or plumbed new depths – in an arena where goading is usually, at worst, met with equally childish retorts until someone decides they are running thin on insults and bails out with a quick press of the “block” button.
It takes significantly less courage to aggravate a rival via Twitter than it does outside a football ground on a Saturday, or to hurl abuse at a struggling player. Therein lies the inherent issue with football and social media.
The internet has become synonymous with knee-jerk reactions and instant, ill-considered, judgement. The football fan of 2015 demands instant results and is often afflicted with the inability to look beyond the present day, no matter how bad a day that may have been.
Players are now one bad performance away from a hammering at the hands of the masses, and more worryingly, the club’s own supporters. The marriage of footballers and fans online was always likely to be a tumultuous one. Yet, some of the comments directed at United players during and after Wednesday’s shock defeat to Middlesbrough, particularly those in the fledgling period of their career, was unbecoming of a club that takes pride in a focus on youth.
Which brings us to Memphis Depay. The 21-year-old from Moodrecht enjoyed a promising start to life in Manchester – catching the eye in preseason and emerging as the key figure in United’s negotiation of the treacherous Champions League third qualifying round, bagging two excellent goals and two assists as United disposed of Club Brugge.
Since then his form has wilted and his confidence appears to have run dry. In recent weeks, Memphis has been consigned to the bench, and in truth, he looks a little shell-shocked.
Predictably, given the player’s lofty price-tag and cocksure personality, the knives are being hastily sharpened in some quarters at the prospect of Memphis following the same path as the previous incumbent in seven – the tepid Angel di Maria.
Thankfully, the fee for which Memphis was acquired from PSV Eindhoven was not as eye-watering as the near £60 million United forked out to bring the sulky Argentine to Manchester – in hindsight, seemingly against his will – lest he would probably have been flogged in public by now. Yes, United paid a lot of money to sign Memphis, and he undoubtedly arrived with a big reputation, but that does not alter the fact that he is only 21.
Despite being younger than Jesse Lingard, and only slightly older than James Wilson, the early signs are that Memphis will not be afforded the same level of patience and support that the two home-grown talents have enjoyed thus far.
Regardless of cost or weight of expectation, Memphis is a young player – and young players are frustrating. It is an obvious comparison, but if Twitter had reached its nadir when Cristiano Ronaldo was 21, the treatment received by the Portuguese at the hands of the internet hordes would have been similarly fierce.
Ronaldo was the very definition of infuriating. The winger displayed flashes of genius amid extended periods of over-elaboration and poor decision-making, all whilst provoking consternation with a headstrong persona and penchant for the theatrical. In short, social media would have had a field day with Ronaldo. And look how wrong the masses would have been.
Parallels with a young Cristiano in no way show that Memphis will go on to emulate one of Old Trafford’s last true superstars, but the need for United fans to exercise patience with the young Dutchman still rings true.
Memphis may flourish in spite of being labelled as a “fraudster”, an “expensive flop” and an “overhyped tool” by United supporters. The player is, after all, less than half way through a maiden season in England – a league that is notoriously difficult to adapt to, even for the most established star. He possesses the physical attributes to deal with the rough and tumble nature that sets the Premier League apart from other European leagues. There are also signs that Memphis has the ability to turn a game on his own.
Unfortunately it is an era where a primary source of information on foreign talent comes through the medium of video highlight packages or even six second Vine clips. Fans’ expectations often climb to unrealistic heights before the player has even put pen to paper.
Those countless YouTube montages of the winger’s free kick prowess at PSV Eindhoven were undeniably exciting, but they don’t show you the ones that landed in the cheap seats. The skills packages omit the times Memphis ran straight into the defender instead of bamboozling his opponent with some outlandish piece of trickery.
The inevitable result is an illusion – too many fans were expecting Memphis to be the finished article, even if the collective tweet on the day he signed proclaimed that the player would be given time to settle. And time is both what Memphis needs, and what he hasn’t had enough of yet.
The irony of the situation is that Memphis appears to revel in the celebrity that comes hand-in-hand with being a footballer, and social media is a massive part of that. He commands 1.7 million followers on Instagram, and a further 650,000 on Twitter. Yet, it is within this universe that the wolves will come calling, long before Memphis experiences any dissent on the terraces.
The young Dutchman is also a victim of Anthony Martial’s instant success. Martial has swept the Old Trafford faithful off their feet in a way that no one expected, and Memphis’ inability to match the performance level of the Frenchman may have contributed to the rising tide of criticism. The internet loves a hero, and now it is Martial, not Memphis, who is capturing the imagination.
Regardless, any football coach will attest that young players develop at different rates. Some find their game more quickly than others. Given his age, there will likely come a time when Martial struggles too. Will the social media collective vehemently accuse the youngster of fraud after a few poor performances?
Fan reaction on the internet will not be the deciding factor in Memphis’ United career. That will derive from whether the player indeed possess the ability many suspect, coupled with the strength of character required to flourish at a club of United’s size.
Labelling the young man a failure after three months of the season woefully premature; it is also a sad indictment of the modern football fan. Tweet that if you like.
Yep! He’s a proper c@nt!
Fantastic article
I agree with this argument – give the kid time. But also, tell him to buckle down – or else he will follow Wilf Zaha, down the poop-chute and into mediocrity (@ 50K/week !)
Memphis needs time…. Lvg has had enough. Negative nonsense and he thinks the fans enjoys it. Full on lost it.
The first problem he has is a deluded mentality that he is superstar.He needs to get that out of his system,coz he isn’t.He needs to look up and pass to a teammate.He needs to track back and help in defense(VAN GAAL SYSTEM).martial’s example should inspire and motivate him not pressure him
you cannot compare Ronaldo and Memphis. Ronaldo was always going to make it. It was obvious from his first kick.
Liam provides a really clear caveat to the comparison. And was it obvious? Ronaldo took more than two full seasons before he started providing goals/assists.
Sure Ronaldo made the odd wrong decision early on, but Memphis can’t beat a man when shown the line…more
Memphis is a one trick pony. Like Young, Depay lacks genuine pace, but Ashley is cute and far more productive.
I see Depay as a Nani 2.0. Stronger, but not effective (yet). Depay seems to have more potential because he actually performed for PSV over a whole season… Depay deserves a couple years to come good. So too, Martial.
Young is “far more productive”? Not that Memphis is any more productive this season mind you, but check out Young’s goals/assists/key passes (chances created) data from PL and CL games and then perhaps go edit the word “productive”.
2015/16
Apps – 9
Assists – 1
Goals – 0
KP – 5
2014/15
Apps – 26
Assists – 5
Goals – 2
KP – 27
2013/14
Apps – 28
Assists – 1
Goals – 2
KP – 16
Perhaps when you said “productive” what you meant was “cut inside and float aimless cross to the back post”.
I completely agree with this: the notion that Ashley Young is “productive” bedevils ALL conversations in which he is used as a stick to beat Memphis.
AY is only “productive” when compared to Antonio Valencia. Ironically, both are actually better “defenders” than “attackers” – what does that tell us ?
good article..i dont think any of the fans have lost patience with memphis.at the same time it is also true that we expected tad bit more from him given his ability.as far as comparisons with ronaldo,cr7 arrived at old Trafford when he was 18 i think.and memphis is 21.memphis was already voted the best player in dutch league and has been a part of the national team for 2 yrs while cr7 was just a kid with no real experience.ronaldo was frustrating to watch at times in his first couple of seasons but the moment he made is debut as a sub against bolton we knew we had someone truly special and we witnessed ample moments of genius in his first two seasons even though he was poor a lot of times.in fact cr7 was nominated for ballon d’or when he was 22 and won it when he was 23.my point is that ronaldo worked tremendously hard to become what he is and if memphis wants to be even half as good as ronaldo he needs to get rid of all the distractions and attitude.he has the greatest left winger the club has ever had coaching him its upto him to grab the opportunity. you just feel he lacks the sincerity to succeed at the age of 21,something which ronaldo had at 18!!