Adnan Januzaj and Memphis Depay might both get a second chance at Manchester United after the buy-back clause in their contracts were revealed on Tuesday.
Januzaj spent five years at Old Trafford between 2012 and 2017, but was shipped out on loan on multiple occasions and struggled to make an impact on the senior team. The 23-year-old did enjoy a brief spell in the good books of former United boss David Moyes, but once Louis Van Gaal was brought in to replace him at the helm the winger was again reduced to a bit-part role.
Depay on the other hand, only spent two seasons with the Red Devils, in the last year of the Dutchman’s reign and the first year of Jose Mourinho’s tenure as head coach. The 24-year-old attacker made 53 appearances in the famous red shirt, scoring 7 goals in total and never fully convincing on the pitch despite his physical attributes and wicked right-foot.
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However, both men have gone on to feature prominently for their new clubs since leaving Manchester, with Januzaj now a regular part of the starting XI at Real Sociedad in La Liga and Depay a vital part of Lyon’s set-up in Ligue 1.
The fact that both men are enjoying a career resurgence of sorts recently could open the door for Man United to activate the buy-back clause in their respective contracts, which was installed to ensure that the club had the option to bring them both back in the future if they developed into stronger players at their new clubs, which has been the case – as The Mirror reports.
The buy-back clauses give United first refusal on both players in the event of a bidding war when the transfer window re-opens, but they would still likely have to pay the market value fees to secure the services of either man once again.
The Mirror states that Januzaj is now valued at €60 million and Depay could be even more than that, given the fact that he moved to Old Trafford from PSV Eindhoven for £31 million back in 2015 – as per BBC Sport – and his value has certainly increased since then.
Could the Belgian starlet or the Dutch winger do better if they were given a second chance at United now?
With Mourinho’s men struggling for form in the early stages of the new Premier League season it couldn’t hurt for either man to make a return to the club in reality. At the very least they could add more depth to the squad and the best case scenario is that one or both of them manages to finally reach their considerable potential at the highest level.