When Wayne Rooney recounted his favourite story about Memphis Depay's brief and unspectacular career at Manchester United, no-one was particularly surprised by it.
At fault for a goal in United's defeat at Stoke City on Boxing Day 2015 that left manager Louis van Gaal on the brink of quitting, Depay was hooked at half-time and told to report for a reserve-team game at Altrincham the next day.
'Look, it's a bit difficult,' Rooney told his teammate. 'Just don't come in with all your fancy stuff.
Memphis Depay is now the star of the Holland team, but he wasn't always seen that way
'He turned up for the reserve game in his Rolls Royce, wearing a leather jacket and a cowboy hat. I just thought, "what's the point?".' It's a story worth retelling as the 27-year-old prepares for Sunday's last 16 clash between Holland and Czech Republic in Budapest as a star of this Netherlands team ahead of a summer move to Barcelona.
Many others at Old Trafford had already reached the same conclusion as Rooney about the cocky Dutchman just six months after his arrival from PSV Eindhoven for a fee of £31million, and he was gone a year later.
In theory, the boy from Moordrecht should have been a good fit for his old Holland coach Van Gaal, but it didn't work out that way.
Depay felt he didn't have the freedom to express himself under the strict manager, and he wasn't alone in that regard.
A story from Wayne Rooney perfectly sums Depay's problems while at Manchester United
Rooney told Depay not to show off his fancy stuff but he then arrived at a reserve game in a Rolls Royce
There were question marks over his attitude in training and the relationship with the manager deteriorated. Depay's confidence suffered but he ignored Van Gaal's advice to see a sports psychologist.
People close to the player were worried that he was struggling without the support network he left behind in Holland, that had helped him overcome a troubled childhood to succeed at PSV, and concerned that he made a mistake by accepting the iconic No.7 shirt at United.
Typically, Depay wasn't fazed. He turned up at for training in a Mercedes G-Wagen with M7 embroidered in the headrests.
But the rest of the numbers didn't back up such confidence. Depay played 53 times for United, scoring just seven goals.
