The Netherlands international has not made much of an impact since joining United from PSV, playing only 20 minutes for Mourinho this season.
The 22-year-old midfielder has only played in eight matches in all competitions for United this season.
And United manager Mourinho explained the reason why Depay has been on the sidelines in 2016-17.
“He was not playing last season. It was not that last season he was playing phenomenally and this season he is not playing at all. That’s not the situation,” Mourinho said.
“I have to say that in the past couple of months my decisions in relation to Memphis were influenced by the feelings and information that he would like to leave in January and that we were going to have a real offer that we would be willing to accept. That obviously influences me.
“If I know, if I have the feeling that a player is leaving – if I have to give chances and develop other players – then I go to [Jesse] Lingard, [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan, [Anthony] Martial, the players I know 100 per cent who are going to stay with us. It is a position where we have more options.”
United welcome Middlesbrough to Old Trafford for Saturday’s Premier League fixture.
