MANCHESTER — Manchester United would welcome a January loan move for Memphis Depay, but Jose Mourinho is unwilling to allow the Dutchman to join a Premier League rival, according to the Daily Mirror.
Depay was signed by former manager Louis van Gaal from PSV Eindhoven two summers ago to provide needed width and pace in the attack at Old Trafford.
However, after making a bright start to his career at Manchester United, the Netherlands international found himself spending most of the last season on the bench.
Depay was hoping to revitalise his career under Mourinho, but has failed to impress the new boss and has fallen even further down the pecking order.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman, while still the manager at Southampton, revealed last summer that he was interested in signing Depay before the attacker opted to follow his former national boss Van Gaal to Old Trafford.
Koeman has also admitted that he would love to take the 22-year-old to Goodison Park, but according to the Daily Mirror, Mourinho will not entertain that switch.
The Portuguese, although not playing Depay regularly, still believes the winger has a future at Manchester United and prefer for him to go abroad rather than joining the Toffees.
Memphis has been rated as one of the rising stars of the future and Mourinho fears that a loan move to Everton could build the Dutchman’s confidence, which could come back to haunt the Red Devils, as the two sides are rivals for top four spots in the English Premier League.
According to the Daily Mirror, Turkish sides Fenerbahce and Galatasaray are both interested in taking Depay on loan in the new year and Mourinho could look to one of those clubs to help his youngster to get regular football elsewhere.
Memphis scored two goals for the Netherlands in a 3-1 FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifier win over Luxembourg last weekend but will still find it hard to get into the United starting team.
