The former Man United player can't wait to play the club's Premier League rivals at the Etihad

Memphis Depay is relishing Lyon’s Champions League trip to the Etihad.

The French side play Premier League champions Manchester City – the best team in the land last term – in their opening group game and Depay, a former Man United player, can’t wait.

“It’s the first time I’ve come back to Manchester after I left,” he said.

“That feels special and I’m happy to come back here and play against Man City.

“For sure, the city is still red and we will try to get a good result against the Blues.”

Depay arrived at Old Trafford in 2015 in a £31million transfer amid a lot of hype, having top scored for PSV with 22 goals as they won the Dutch league.

He left for Lyon in 2017, but feels United fans never saw the best of him.

3 Depay has found his form again in France, scoring 19 league goals last season

“Everybody knows the story of me and Manchester United was not successful,” he added.

“Everybody can see that and I can feel it myself. I can look back and say I didn’t want it to go like that – nobody did – but things happened.

“After one season, I couldn’t find myself in the team. I was still young, didn’t get a lot of opportunities, but I must say that the first season I didn’t put the quality on the table that I thought.”

Wayne Rooney, now of MLS side DC United, was a team-mate of Depay’s in Manchester and recently told The Times a funny story about the 24-year-old.

3 Rooney played with Depay at Man United for two years and both left in 2017, with Depay joining Lyon in January and Rooney moving back to Everton in the summer

“He came on at Stoke away and messed up for their goal so [manager] Louis van Gaal made him play for the reserves the next day.

“I said, ‘Look, it’s a bit difficult [for you]. Just don’t come in with all your fancy stuff.’ And he turned up for the reserve game in his Rolls-Royce, wearing a leather jacket and a cowboy hat. And I just thought, ‘What’s the point?’

“But Memphis is a lovely lad and it’s good to see things going well for him now.”