Lyon chief dismisses mid-season departure for Memphis Depay

Lyon CEO Jean-Michel Aulas has stressed that Les Gones are unlikely to entertain the prospect of Memphis Depay leaving the club when the transfer window reopens. The Netherlands international has been in fantastic form for club and country over the past year and this has spread the speculation that he could pursue a bigger challenge away from the Groupama Stadium.

However, speaking to reporters, Aulas has dismissed the possibility of that happening during the forthcoming transfer window while indicating that the Dutchman himself has no ambition to leave the French giants in the near future, he said: “We will not let our star player go in January, we also want to keep Memphis for as long as possible.

“It is true that he has received concrete offers, somewhere deep inside I think he wants to stay at Lyon and wants to grow with this club to a higher level, which makes it easier for him to stay. In the summer there were a number of large, concrete offers. For Memphis, there is always interest, but it was not exactly what he was looking for. Lyon does not let him just go of course.”

“Depay made a name for himself during his time with PSV Eindhoven“and he thereafter sealed the move to Manchester United in the summer of 2014 after impressing for the Netherlands at the World Cup that year. However, he could not make any major “impact during his time“ with the Mancunian giants and he was eventually offloaded to Les Gones at the start of 2017.

Since then, the Dutchman has managed to revive his career with several standout performances for the former French champions and it may not be long before the attacker ponders over the prospect of another big-club move. The former United man has contributed six goals and 11 assists for Lyon during the ongoing campaign.