Eamon Dunphy Questions Manchester United 'Big-Club' Tag and Memphis Depay Deal

Eamon Dunphy, a former Manchester United youth player and current pundit for RTE in Ireland, took a shot at Manchester United in the wake of their 0-0 draw with PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday, insisting the Red Devils are no longer a "big club."

Speaking after the match, Dunphy, who has a reputation for particularly scathing opinions, had a lot to say about United’s status and the standard of the players brought in by the club in the summer window:

“They're not a big club anymore,” he said. “Manchester United is not a big club anymore. We're going to watch Barcelona, we're going to watch Bayern Munich. They're the big clubs. Real Madrid, they're a really big club. [United] are not a big club anymore.”

Memphis Depay was the target of a lot of Dunphy’s ire, the 70-year-old insisting United should have sought to sign dazzling Bayern Munich winger Douglas Costa instead:

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There’s a guy called Douglas Costa playing for Bayern Munich, who scored last night; he’s a terrific player. They bought him for £22 million.

At the same time as he went to Bayern for £22 million, Memphis went to United for £24 million. So where’s their scouting system? That raises a question.

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The Red Devils could end up paying a fee of £31 million for Depay, while Costa was a £21 million purchase by the German champions, per BBC Sport.

Dunphy is not the only one frustrated with United’s recent displays. Louis van Gaal’s side were tepid in their offensive forays against PSV, as they struggled to put together any attacking patterns or penetrative passes, making chances particularly scarce on the night. The consequent anger was palpable among the Old Trafford faithful.

Bleacher Report’s Rob Blanchette thinks Van Gaal needs to send his teams out to play with more attacking fluidity:

Memphis is a someone who, at his best, could provide that spark. However, it’s little surprise the early weeks of his career at United have not been plain sailing; he’s only 21, has the pressure of a massive fee on his shoulders and is playing in a much more competitive environment than he was at PSV.

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By contrast, Costa is thriving as part of a mechanical Bayern attacking force. There was no pressure on the 25-year-old to perform after his arrival from Shakhtar Donetsk in the summer, and his flair on the flanks has encapsulated that mindset perfectly.

As Bayern’s official Twitter feed noted, Costa is totting up some very impressive numbers in the early stages of his career with the German giants:

Dunphy, unsurprisingly, was a little rash in the assessments he made. To say United are not a “big club” is simply untrue. No team has won more English league titles than they have, no team in the Premier League gets as many supporters through the turnstiles on a weekly basis and few sides are as revered around the globe as the Red Devils.

Granted, they aren’t as powerful a side as they were under Sir Alex Ferguson, and a rebuilding job needs to be done. Players such as Memphis and Anthony Martial, who have been signed with the future in mind, are central to that particular vision. Therefore, a little more patience is required before writing the young Dutchman off as a flop.