Memphis Depay wants to be the next seventh wonder at Manchester United and carve his name in club folklore.
The young Dutchman showed his ambition and fearlessness when he asked for the coveted No. 7 shirt after Angel Di Maria’s move to Paris Saint-Germain.
And Depay, 21, says he is not scared to try to emulate the legends who have worn the iconic number, such as George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“Yes, I know the history about the number,” he said. “I appreciate it. It’s an honour to wear the No7 and I will wear it with pride.
“But I want to be my own man. I want to show that I can wear it with pride. Last year I played with No 7 [for PSV Eindhoven] and I scored a lot of goals so I am confident with that number.”
Depay, who moved to United in the summer for £25 million (Dh142m) after helping PSV to the Eredivisie title, made his debut in the shirt in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Spurs.
In a tight game, he only managed to show glimpses of his quality, but was involved in the build-up to Kyle Walker’s own-goal winner.
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And Depay added: “I want to bring creative things, goals, but yeah of course I have to play with discipline in midfield, I can’t lose the ball too much.
“I can make risks on the side when I come in the third phase, then I can make my tricks and take risks. I try to do it as good as possible. What I did last year, I want to do that at Manchester United.”
Boss Louis van Gaal played Depay, usually a winger, behind Wayne Rooney and admits he is “too eager” to impress at the moment.
“New players, especially young players, want to show their qualities and the next match shall be, only because of that, better for him,” the United boss said.
“It is a new position for him, and he has to adapt to the new position because he is a goalscoring type, but we have to wait and see if he can fulfil the demands of this position.”
Another option for that role could be Barcelona frontman Pedro, should United agree a deal with the Spanish club this week.
There is concern about United’s striking options if Rooney gets injured, and also at the back after Phil Jones was ruled out for at least three weeks with mild thrombosis. But Van Gaal says he will not panic buy in the transfer window.
“We have three centre-backs, we have [Paddy] McNair, Jones and [Chris] Smalling, but if he (a new signing) is much better than them then it is possible,” he added. “We go for the best players and it has to be possible.
“The striker is Wayne Rooney and we also have [Javier] Hernandez, [Adnan] Januzaj and [James] Wilson.
“It is not a special objective for me, but when we can buy another striker who has a lot of qualities, more than our players, then we buy. But we have done that always.”
