Depay has a long way to go yet

As Mark Cohn sang in his song 'Walking in Memphis': 'Boy, you got a prayer in Memphis'. Manchester United fans will be thinking the same thing after witnessing a Depay-led win at Old Trafford on Tuesday night, with two spectacular goals coming from the new number seven.

As is customary these days, any outstanding performance by an individual will be debated and lauded on social media long after the floodlights go down and the stadium gates are closed. After coming to United with such a burgeoning reputation, the fans have been expecting big things of the summer signing from PSV Eindhoven. This combination of factors have led some to hail the coming of a new messiah to pull on the fabled United number seven jersey, after such luminaries as Eric Cantona, David Beckham, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

While it is clear that Depay has a huge amount of potential - those two goals last night should give anyone an idea of how much - we should remember this. He is 21 years old, and there will be many challenges ahead to prove he can be counted amongst the great United players. Ronaldo himself was 21 when he started to show impressive form for United, but it was between the ages of 23-30 where he really showed people that he was world-class. Lest we forget, Ronaldo's compatriot Nani demonstrated the dangers of labelling a young player as a future great - he never hit the heights he was projected to at United after frustrating fans with intermittent flashes of genius.

Depay should be able to cope with the pressures of English football a lot better than his predecessor in the number seven shirt, Angel Di Maria, and his style of play should suit the fast paced Premier League. However, his goals against Club Brugge, while spectacular, were against a clearly lower-class of team, and as his two performances in the Premier League so far (against Tottenham and Aston Villa) have shown, the going won't be as easy as facing Belgian teams all season.

Tuesday was a good game to get started for Depay; United want to be back where they think they belong, in the Champions League, and needed a good result against Brugge to set them off on the right track. His link-up play with Wayne Rooney was impressive as well, and will have pleased boss Louis Van Gaal. More performances like that from their young Dutchman in the league, and maybe United can start to believe they've got themselves another worthy wearer of the number seven. They'll certainly be Walking in Memphis then.

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