Without a doubt, Memphis Depay’s one and a half seasons with Olympique Lyonnais has been a smashing success and to a large extent, he’s vindicated everyone who thought of him as a big time talent back when he was tearing up the Eredivisie, with even a few thinking that his ceiling as a player was as the next Cristiano Ronaldo. His Non Penalty Goals + Assists per 90 rate of 1.00 in just over 3400 minutes in Ligue 1 is about as good as it gets for a player who’s either not named Lionel Messi/Ronaldo, or doesn’t play on the preeminent super-team in France (PSG). Depay’s work in France could be seen as the perfect example as to the tricky nature that comes with youth talent development, and how it isn’t such a linear process of going from exciting young talent -> full fledged star.
What’s been interesting with Depay has been the subtle change that’s gone on with his game over the past month or so, a move to a more central position that could be foreshadowing what the rest of his prime years may look like moving forward. What made Depay so effective during his first half season at Lyon was he broadly played like what we saw from him at PSV, just with better shot discipline as he adjusted to the attacking talent that surrounded him and the new lease on life he had after leaving Manchester United and the clutches of Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho. That formula wasn’t working quite as well for large parts of this season as it looked like having him play with other shot hungry talents like Mariano, Nabil Fekir, and Bertrand Traore in a front four was akin to having too many chefs in the kitchen. That problem has subdued for the time being as at least one of those four guys has come off the bench during Lyon’s surge in form over the past month, and in the process, we’ve seen what could be deemed as the next evolution of Memphis Depay as a player.
In recent weeks, Lyon have worked with what could be described as a diamond formation, with Depay starting position being much more in the central areas than having to be isolated against the opposing fullback in 1v1 situations. In comparison to previous times where the movements were typical of the modern inverted winger, he’s occupying much more time in the left halfspace and providing width when necessary by moving from inside -> wide. When the ball is on the same side of the pitch as Depay, he’s been used as an outlet to attempt quick hitting plays. It has looked clunky at times because of the poor spacing of Lyon’s players during possession, the drawbacks of basically being a more athletic version of what Arsenal have built over the years with an improvisational attack, but it’s also worked well in at least creating wayward shooting opportunities when it gets going.
The idea of using Depay as an outlet for quick passing combinations makes sense with the type of lower body strength that he possesses. Depay can shield the ball quite effectively considering his legs are about as massive as tree trunks, and allow runners to come to the ball. Even when that doesn’t happen, he’s been effective in general when it comes to keeping the play moving once he receives the ball just outside the penalty area, constantly probing and finding space.
Depay’s passing in general has been more effective, which makes sense considering that he’s got more avenues to work with. The same goes for his chance creation in open play (he’s been killing it when it comes to his corners during this stretch), something he’s always been very good at when he was performing from a wide starting point. Unlike his shooting (we’ll get to that), there hasn’t been a lot of craft in terms of his creation. Rather it’s just that he’s collecting the ball and going with a head of steam. One thing that has been apparent is the burgeoning relationship that’s gone on between Traore/Depay and how Depay has seeked him out on multiple occasions for shots, the fact that this has been Traore’s best stretch as a Lyon player shouldn’t be considered a coincidence.
The shift to a more central role has perhaps had the biggest effect on Depay’s shooting in terms of striking that fine balance between volume and shot location. One of the hidden subplots of Depay’s season by the winter break was that for a guy that was once renown for being one of highest volume shooters in European Football at PSV, his shot numbers were quite sedated in comparison only averaging ~3 shots per 90 minutes and contributing 5.22 shots per 90 minutes. Those numbers in isolation are totally fine, a lot of wide players would be satisfied by having such shot numbers alongside non-horrific shot locations, and it speaks to Depay that those shot rates would represent something of a down season.
That’s been fixed with Depay late run as he’s taken 28 shots and creating 26 shots in 448 minutes in April, which on a per 90 basis would equate to 5.63 shots per 90 minutes and an overall shot contribution per 90 rate of 10.85(!!!!). No player contributes 10 shots per 90 minutes, not even Lionel Messi or Ronaldo. What’s interesting is that what made Depay initially successful at Lyon was he took out about 1–1.5 bad shots per game from his arsenal, which resulted in much better shot quality on average, but Depay in this recent tear is shooting at a similar volume like he was in Holland without having the shot location problems he had back in his younger days. A good number of his shots in open play since the change in role have looked very much like what you would expect from a striker: peeling away from the centerbacks and finding open space for himself to shoot, or using his quick first step to get at the end of crosses inside the penalty area. He’s done a surprisingly good impersonation of the modern day striker.
With Depay’s new role, he’s been able to appreciably cut down those typical shots where he would cut from outside -> inside and fire up a shot from 19+ yards out. I’m probably a bit more sympathetic towards these kind of shots than others because sometimes that’s all you’re going to be able to create on the day, but it’s been good to see that these shots have been limited so there hasn’t been something of a diminishing return. Instead he’s been better at hunting better quality shots when he does have the ball, turning what would be 3–6% shots on average into 7–10%, which isn’t the biggest increase but impressive in the context of him keeping his ridiculous shot volumes at the level he has.
It’s fair to wonder whether this switch to a two striker system could be a long term solution at Lyon. The biggest thing in its favor is that it would be benching one of the Traore/Depay/Mariano/Fekir quartet and redistributing the shots in a more reasonable manner, while also allowing Houssem Aouar to play as a #8 instead of having to push him forward as a left winger along with keeping Fekir in his natural spot as a #10. I also wonder if the collective athleticism that Lyon possess (assuming they keep this core for another season) would be able to make a diamond formation work in the Champions League should they qualify for it, considering their past attempts at using it in Europe didn’t go so well in 2015–16 (Nabil Fekir’s ACL tear did play a huge part in this). We wouldn’t be doing our due diligence if we didn’t also mention that four of the most recent five Ligue 1 matches had come against sides that were below average defensively, albeit Depay was devastating against one of the league’s best defensive sides in Nantes last weekend.
Irrespective of what’s gone on, I’ve always thought that Depay would be able to transition pretty well into something of a second striker role as he got older, as he just seemed that he could handle such a transition with his archetype of player. I must admit that this line of thinking wasn’t something I would see this early in his career, as this was more what I thought would happen once he got to his late 20’s as a way of staving off decline in a similar fashion to what’s happened with Ronaldo over the past 4–5 years. I also didn’t think he would take to his new role as quickly as he did even with my general optimism about how he would function centrally.
What’s gone on over the past month could be seen as another chapter in what has become one of the more fascinating careers in European Football, the former Dutch prodigy who had a massive hiccup at Manchester United but has reclaimed much of his former glory in France. Memphis Depay 1.0 at PSV and for large parts of his Lyon tenure was the modern day high usage inverted winger who would terrorize individuals from the left wing as both a shooter and creator. That player still largely exists and perhaps on another team in a different setup, he would probably has another 2-3 years left of peak performance in the tank. It’s fair to wonder whether what we’ve seen recently is something that is sustainable for next season, but if it turns out to be true, Memphis Depay 2.0 might just be the most devastating iteration we’ve seen yet.
