Donny van de Beek signed for Manchester United from Ajax in the summer window, to great fanfare.
Whilst he may not have been the type of player the club needed most, he was still a relatively big-name addition and it was thought he’d be able to provide Bruno Fernandes with the opportunity to take some rest occasionally.
It was a pretty easy deal for the Premier League club to complete, and so far the midfielder has made ten appearances, totalling 373 minutes, and contributed a goal against Crystal Palace and an assist against Brighton.
There’s been some clamour among supporters for Van de Beek to be starting matches, especially ahead of last weekend’s game against Everton, with there even being suggestions he could take the place of Fernandes for that fixture.
Staying on the bench, he watched as his teammate put in a Man of the Match performance, scoring twice and selflessly adding an assist for Edinson Cavani in a 3-1 victory.
That’s now six goals and five assists for the Portugal international this season, in just over double the minutes the Dutchman has had.
The Dutch media have of course been covering Van de Beek’s situation, although aside from one or two out-there takes, the response has been relatively calm.
With the chance for the 23-year-old to now get some more minutes with his national team, and add to his 14 caps, Netherlands manager Frank de Boer has been asked about the player.
Quoted by Voetbal International, he responded: “Of course I try to give him as much confidence as possible, I also showed that by letting him play against Italy. He did a pretty nice job. He is also doing well at Manchester United, but they have a fantastic midfield.
“That’s difficult too, but Donny will still get to play enough. Of course he wants more, but you also have to get used to a different competition. He will experience that too, let’s hope he will eventually get game minutes. In any case, he is equipped, so we can use him well.”
Less optimistic is former Dutch international René van der Gijp, who has been quoted by Voetbal Zone as saying: “If you look at Davy Klaassen. He went to Everton, and he fails there. And then we think that Van de Beek will succeed at Manchester United? Not going to happen.”
Klaassen is now back at Ajax, and has a good chance of starting for the Netherlands in the upcoming fixtures.
