Lyon forward, Memphis Depay has taken to his social media page to celebrate a year without a further setback from the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) he sustained last year.
The Dutch international torn his anterior cruciate ligament and missed the rest of last season last year after 46 minutes of action in the Ligue 1 clash against Rennes, which they lost 1-0.
Depay sustained the injury when the match was still scoreless. Before getting injured, the 26-year-old had scored nine goals in Ligue 1 that season. The League season was eventually cancelled due to coronavirus and PSG emerged winner of the title on a point-per-match basis. This made Lyon miss the European competitions after finishing 7th.
Fast forward to the present season, Depay, who couldn’t secure a move to Barcelona last summer due to the Catalan club’s present financial situation has scored 8 goals and assisted four in 16 games this season.
He took to his social media page as a reminiscence of what he passed through a year ago. It took him two months to recover from the injury and he began training afterwards.
“Today one year ago I did my ACL surgery. I can’t lie, I’ve never felt pain like that before in my life. But you know what they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Today you looking at a stronger person mentally and physically. Keep your eyes open, I believe that God will reward me for my hard work,” he wrote.
Memphis Depay keeps waxing stronger after anterior cruciate ligament challenge
Depay is a product of PSV Eindhoven academy where he grew under the influence of manager Phillip Cocu.
Depay later became an integral part of the senior team, scoring 50 goals in 124 games across all competitions.
During his stint with the senior team in the 2014–15 season, he was the Eredivisie’s top scorer with 22 goals in 30 games, which helped the team win the Eredivisie title for the first time since 2008. He also emerged as the Dutch Footballer of the Year for his performances during the season.
France Football further named him Best Young Player in the world in 2015 for his performance as well.
Depay eventually joined Manchester United in June 2015 for a reported fee of £25 million. He failed to live up to expectations before being sold to Lyon initially on loan in January 2017 after scoring just seven goals in 53 appearances.
Depay has featured across the Dutch youth national teams as well before becoming an mainstay in the senior national team that has been making waves.
Now that he is injury-free, he has been leading the charge for Les Gones are they are currently joint top on the Ligue 1 table with 33 points from 16 games.
