More and more do we see national team records being broken. At the 2022 World Cup, we saw 14 current all-time top scorers represent their country at the biggest stage.
How many of those players will have had their record discredited the moment they made history? Harry Kane overtook Wayne Rooney, Olivier Giroud took Thierry Henry’s record, Gareth Bale passed Ian Rush, and Neymar even took the great Pele’s record for Brazil!
All great players, obviously, but whether they’re better than their predecessors is absolutely up for debate.
Memphis Depay’s case falls right into this perimeter. Obviously, his name is not as significant, as great, or perhaps as historically meaningful as the likes of Robin van Persie, Patrick Kluivert, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Dennis Bergkamp, and Arjen Robben, who fill out the rest of the top six, but is that really enough to symbolically strip him of his record?
I’ve seen the most ridiculous excuses fly across my screen.
Memphis wouldn’t have played as much in the same era as those before him. He scored penalties against smaller opponents, but he hasn’t shown up in big games. Memphis didn’t make it in England, unlike Van Persie. He’s never been important to the team. Even the record itself doesn’t matter anymore.
Really? Seriously?
Let me start by saying that every record is earned, not given.
Teams did not hand Memphis goals. Just like every single player before him, he had to work to score goals.
‘Smaller’ opponents? You can only score against those in front of you.
If he scores, it’s apparently insignificant because it’s not Spain or France. If he doesn’t score, he’s not worthy to wear the orange shirt. It’s a tale as old as time.
But if we look deeper, how ‘insignificant’ was the record before Memphis broke it?
Of all the reasons to make the record seem worthless, the most popular are arguments about Memphis not showing up at major tournaments and only scoring against smaller opponents. Numbers, numbers, numbers.
So let’s talk numbers.
The goal-to-game ratios of both men couldn’t be more similar. Robin van Persie scored his 50th Netherlands goal in his 101st game, whereas Memphis scored his 50th in his 102nd appearance for Oranje. He broke the record in his 104th game.
This puts Van Persie at 0.49 goals per Netherlands game, and Memphis at 0.50 goals per game. Let’s call it a draw.
Then the big stage.
Robin van Persie played 24 games at either the World Cup or European Championships, appearing for a total of 1,973 minutes at those tournaments. He scored nine goals in those 24 games, averaging a goal every 219 minutes, or one about every 2.5 games.
Memphis has played 19 games at major tournaments, accumulating 1,269 minutes in total. With six goals to his name, Memphis averaged a goal every 211 minutes.
Add assists to both guys’ resumes and you get a similar outcome: one goal or assist every 152 minutes for Van Persie, and one goal or assist every 141 minutes for Memphis.
Advantage, Memphis.
Then, goals against so-called ‘smaller’ opponents.
If we take teams ranked between 50 and 100 in the FIFA World Ranking, Memphis has scored 15 goals against those teams, and Van Persie 11.
Memphis has scored in seven games against opponents outside the top 100 of the FIFA World Ranking, getting twelve goals. Van Persie scored in just four games against teams outside the top 100, getting nine goals in total.
What about the ‘bigger’ opponents then?
Different people use different metrics, so I have traced back the goals of both players against teams from within the top 20 and top 25 of the FIFA World Ranking.
Memphis has scored 12 of his 52 goals against teams from within the top 20. If you include the top-25 teams, that number rises to 14 goals.
Van Persie, meanwhile, scored ten goals against teams inside the top 20 (he never played against teams ranked 21-25).
These numbers make for this balance.
If you take the average ranking of the opponents Memphis Depay scored against, you get a ranking of 59 from 38 games. Robin van Persie, who scored in 37 games for Oranje, scored against an opponent with an average ranking of 54.
How about penalties then?
Robin van Persie scored seven penalties for the Netherlands, of which four came during World Cup/Euro qualifiers, three during friendlies, and one came at a major tournament.
Meanwhile, Memphis scored twelve penalties for the Netherlands. Six during qualifiers, three in the UEFA Nations League, two during friendlies, and one at a major tournament.
And what about memorable goals?
Some critics argue that Memphis fails to score enough 'big goals' or stand up in crucial moments, unlike Van Persie.
Couldn't be more untrue.
Think back to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The Netherlands had beaten Spain 5-1 in their tournament opener, partly thanks to a brace from Robin van Persie. In the second game, Oranje were losing 2-1 against Australia before Van Persie equalised for the Netherlands and Memphis opened his international account with a famous strike from distance, winning his team a crucial group stage match.
Then, five days later, the Netherlands met Chile in the final group stage match. The winner won the group and would avoid a meeting with Brazil in the round of 16. Van Persie was suspended after receiving a yellow card in both of the Netherlands' opening matches, but Memphis stepped up with the dagger in the 92nd minute.
Or how about Memphis' opener in the World Cup knockout match against the United States in 2022? It's the goal that put him on the same number of knockout goals in major tournaments as Van Persie: one.
Van Persie's most memorable goals both came in the shocking 5-1 win over Spain, with his diving header the most memorable of his career. Truly, outside of that, how many more memorable goals does Van Persie have than Memphis?
It's not the name that matters; it's the goals.
It is not a valid reason to discredit Memphis' record, the fact that he's not as big as the other famous attackers the Netherlands have had. Outside of the ones I've already mentioned, there's also Marco van Basten, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Faas Wilkes, Johnny Rep, Beb Bakhuys, Abe Lenstra, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and, of course, Johan Cruyff.
Memphis is the odd one out in a way, but that is simply not enough to take anything away from his record. If we gave out records based on name value, then there are nine men who Dutch fans should be furious with because their name value isn't as big as Cruyff's.
But when have people ever discredited Robin van Persie, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Patrick Kluivert, Dennis Bergkamp, Arjen Robben, Faas Wilkes, Ruud van Nistelrooy, or Abe Lenstra for having more goals than Johan Cruyff, who is undoubtedly the best Dutch player of all time?
Never. Because that's not how records work, nor how they should be criticised.
Whether it's out of rancour for wearing a hat to the players' hotel in 2015, out of resentment for missing a penalty against France, out of fatigue because of his celebration, music career or tattoos, or out of an old grudge because he's always unapologetically been himself, it's not enough.
Memphis Depay is our new all-time top scorer, and until someone proves he can do it better than him, there's no denying his value, historical meaning, and leadership for the Dutch national team.
He's simply the lion that roared loudest.