COMMENT: Radamel Falcao, Angel di Maria, Victor Valdes, ... Memphis Depay? He's not going to do it again, is he? Louis van Gaal surely isn't about to blow another £25 million?
It was utter humiliation for Memphis at Everton on Saturday. Not only benched. Not only overlooked for Jese Lingard in the second-half. But also slaughtered by Van Gaal in the post-match.
He had it coming. There's no arguing against that. The problem is... what's Van Gaal's end game when it comes to his countryman? Going on recent history, the concern for Ed Woodward, the club's vice-chairman, has to be a premonition of their £25 million investment being ushered out the back door, just as Di Maria, Falcao and, if Van Gaal gets his way, Valdes have in the last three months.
Van Gaal even gave himself an 'out' when pushed about Memphis yesterday.
"We have seen that some players cannot adapt to the team philosophy. You cannot know in advance before you buy them. You have to wait and see."
Really? Van Gaal worked with Memphis throughout Holland's World Cup qualifying campaign. He took the then PSV Eindhoven winger to Brazil, spending over a month with the 21 year-old up close and personal. He even pushed Woodward to get out from behind his desk and fly to Paris to sign Memphis in May after learning he was in France talking to PSG.
Yet, now he's putting up his hands, insisting the player's future with the club is in the lap of the football Gods? C'mon. Something is broken here.
We're going over old ground, but it's worth repeating: Woodward, on the insistence of Van Gaal, handed Valdes a three-year contract, making him among the highest paid goalkeepers on the planet. And why not? He'd won everything in the game with Barcelona, had charmed United's coaching staff and was quickly establishing himself as a mentor to the club's younger players.
But in only a matter of months since inking that deal, the situation between manager and player has deteriorated to the point where Valdes no longer has a locker inside the club's dressing room. Is this what awaits Memphis?
Van Gaal had to act, no question. Yesterday, he confirmed Ryan Giggs, his No2, had pulled Memphis aside to discuss his off-field antics.
In England, you can understand United fans wondering what all the fuss is about. The snaps of him out on the town, even sporting his garish fake gold teeth, are hardly a hanging offence. But in Holland it's a different story and the criticism over the past week from the likes of Pierre van Hooijdonk and Youri Mulder about "attitude problems" barely scratches the surface.
The conduct of Memphis during Holland camps has left many not only baffled, but infuriated. With the local game on its knees, to have United's No7 turn up to training sporting a cowboy hat and designer scarf left many in the Dutch game furious. Then, just last week, tribalfootball.com's Dutch colleagues informed us Memphis blanked three scheduled interviews organised by the FA (KNVB) because he didn't fancy it. The one interview he did do, with a reporter from AD, was your typical surly, precious, mono-syllabic pro at his worst. Not the actions of a player that a club of United's stature can sell their profile through.
And this all without mentioning (though I guess we are now!) his training ground ruck with Robin van Persie, the former United captain.
But the problem is, how could Van Gaal not know this about Memphis? How can the manager, who would have the most informed connections within Dutch football today, now claim he didn't know what United were buying? The protests yesterday were ridiculous.
And this is a real test of Van Gaal's man-management. So far, we've seen little compromise on the manager's side. Valdes, Di Maria and Falcao could've been joined by Marcos Rojo in August. The Argentine was back for victory at Everton - and impressed. But he's only still with United thanks to his stubbornness. Van Gaal offered him a way out in the final week of the summer market - an offer had been accepted from AS Monaco. But Rojo refused to budge - and Luke Shaw's season-ending injury has forced Van Gaal to play nice.
But Rojo could've been the fourth high-profile international to be bought and sold by Van Gaal in a space of a year. Don't think it could happen with Memphis? Just look at Di Maria. Or Van Persie. He was supposed to usurp Wayne Rooney as club captain after the World Cup. Yet, Van Gaal told him to leave during a round of golf last summer.
The stick is good How many of us wish Van Gaal was around when Rio Ferdinandet al were trying it on with David Moyes two years ago? But is the carrot in his locker? Or has the damage already been done?
Sir Alex Ferguson very rarely criticised his players in public - if ever. You can't say the say about Van Gaal. Just last week, even Ferguson admitted United's imports would need time to settle to the unique demands of the Premier League. It's tough enough for Memphis, without the tag of being 'the next Di Maria' hanging around his neck courtesy of his manager.
But the player's no victim in this. It's clear the news of Giggs' chat with Memphis came via a leak from an exasperated dressing room. The Dutchman isn't just upsetting folk in the media, his antics are also concerning the most important people in all this - his teammates.
He needs to take responsibility. But so does the manager. Throwing up your hands and claiming innocence is hardly the message Van Gaal should be sending to his No7.