Former Manchester United star Memphis Depay has defended his now-deleted tweet eyeing up a ball girl at the Madrid Open final, insisting the girl in question was 'in her 20s' and telling a journalist to 'factcheck your s***'.

Depay, who played for the Red Devils for just over a year after joining them in 2015 before moving to Lyon, currently features for LaLiga team Atletico Madrid and had been in attendance at the tennis event in the Spanish capital.

After sitting in the stands to watch Andrey Rublev beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in three sets on Sunday, Depay came under fire for a post on social media where he said he was 'distracted' by a ball girl, asking to be sent her Instagram account and saying he wanted to have 'dinner on the moon' with her.

The tweet, which has now been removed, was picked up by a journalist who said it was 'not a great day' for the Dutchman after his controversial post, coupled with reports from Spanish outlet AS that his club Atletico want to sell him. 

The initial post included a photo of the ball girl in question from his view in the spectator seats, saying: 'Someone distracted me from the game... to be honest.

'Someone [send] me her IGGGG. Let's have dinner on the moon.'

A journalist called Zach Lowy screenshotted Depay's post and said: 'Not a great day for Memphis Depay. First, AS reports that Atlético Madrid are looking to part ways with him this summer, and then, he posts and deletes a tweet about a ball girl in the Madrid Open Final. The 30-year-old’s contract is set to expire in June 2025.'

Depay responded the following morning, claiming the girl was a model who was in her 20s and that he had obtained her phone number.

He also hit out at the journalist for 'spreading these narratives', telling him to 'factcheck your s***' - and dismissing talk around his future beyond Atletico.  

'My day was fabulous zachi,' he said. 'Watched the final and got her number in my phone too. That so called ball girl is real a model and is in her 20’s.. damn let a single [man] shoot [his] shot smh.

'Y’all disgusted me [for real]. Go factcheck your s*** before you spreading these narratives… You give weak personality vibes my guy. We good on @FabrizioRomano. Find something else... 

'As far as my football future, I’m not concerned.. we in the lab!'

It comes after allegations Depay paid a €1m (£850,000) bail for his former Barcelona team-mate Dani Alves after he was convicted of raping a young woman in a nightclub bathroom in the Spanish city in the early hours of December 31, 2022.

Alves was found guilty in February and was handed a four-and-a-half year prison sentence, which he subsequently appealed, with his bond set at €1m.

It appeared that he would struggle to raise this figure due to the Brazilian reportedly having two empty bank accounts and another in the red, but he managed to pay the fee in March and was released from prison. 

However, Depay's agent Sebastian Ledure hit out at reports that the forward had helped him raise this figure. 

'This is fake news. It is false news, it is not true at all,' Ledure told Informativos Telecinco, as quoted by Goal, on Tuesday.

Ledure also asked to 'correct at an official level' the claim, after it spread on social media

Depay and Alves briefly played together for Barcelona between November 2021 and July 2022, after the latter returned to the club following his hugely successful first spell at the Nou Camp. 

The Dutchman is best known for his troubled spell at United after joining them for £25m in 2016, but he only featured 53 times for just over a season, scoring seven times before linking up with Lyon in 2016-17.

He returned to form in France as he netted 76 times from 178 outings, earning a free transfer to Barcelona. At the Nou Camp, he scored 13 goals in his first campaign before falling out of favour and joining Atletico Madrid. 

However, injuries have plagued his time in the Spanish capital, having only played nine times in total in his first campaign due to muscle problems. Fitness issues have continued in this campaign after being forced to miss the first chunk of the season.

He has started nine LaLiga games in total for this campaign, coming off the bench a further 11 times, and has not featured since a 2-1 win over Villarreal on April 1.