Former Manchester United striker Memphis Depay was taught a harsh lesson in watching what he tweets at the weekend, after goading his opposition on Twitter only for them to have the last laugh on the pitch.
The Dutchman signed for French team Olympique Lyonnais in January, and was so confident about his new club’s ability to beat FC Lorient on Saturday, he tweeted the below meme, accompanied by the words ‘Fish on the menu’:
Fish on the menu… Du poisson au menu… #TeamOL @OL 🦁⚽🦁👊🏽🐟 pic.twitter.com/ZZHqWxV1XL
— Memphis Depay (@Memphis) April 8, 2017
The joke comes from the two clubs’ nicknames. Lyon have a very obvious association with lions, with one appearing on the club’s badge, while Lorient’s nickname Les Merlus (the hake) comes from the fishing industry of the Brittany commune. Depay’s tweet suggested he expected his team to make short work of the opposition.
It turned out that the Lorient fish had a sting in its fins however, winning the game 4-1 and leaving their Twitter tormentor looking like a fish out of water.
Depay, who scored just two goals in a year and a half at Manchester United and was widely labelled a ‘flop’ at the Old Trafford club, has started his Lyon career much more promisingly, with five goals in eight starts since his move. However, he may have been wise to let his football continue to do the talking rather than give himself a terrible haddock by talking pollocks on social media, only to flounder on the pitch and make a sprat of himself.
Not surprisingly, it was left to other Twitter users to reel in the £22m footballer with all kinds of piscine pillorying, and not let him be the one that got away with a meme that spoke louder than his team:
— Philippe Stark (@Dirty0ldTown) April 8, 2017
More like.. 😅🤦🏾♂️ pic.twitter.com/E0zQN54ALY
— BlackElegance® 🇸🇳 (@BoubaCGueye) April 8, 2017
#OLFCL pic.twitter.com/FfXqVY312C
— OMANI (@8OMANI) April 8, 2017
Some footballers do have a bit of a habit of tweeting content they later come to regret, such as outspoken midfielder Joey Barton, who put out several tweets mocking Burnley as a town and football club in 2014, only to sign for the club a year later.
Barton and Depay’s situations may be cause for no more than light-hearted mickey taking, but Barton’s Burnley team mate Andre Gray found himself in much hotter water earlier in the season when some homophobic tweets he made as semi-professional footballer came to light.
The lesson for Twitter-using footballers? Don’t be koi about tweeting, but unless you can back up your social media bravado with performances on the pitch, it may be best to kipper your mouth shut.
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