Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek has been accused of ‘deception’ after failing to declare a groin injury to the Netherlands.
Van de Beek was sent home from the Netherlands squad yesterday after being ruled out of the European Championships through injury.
It was revealed he had been playing with a groin problem for several weeks and using painkillers to mask the issue in an attempt to prove a point after a disappointing year at Manchester United.
That won’t be happening now; he’s been forced to sit out, and Telesport cover the situation today under the headline ‘Donny’s Deception’.
They say Van de Beek ‘swallowed pain’ to try and make something out of his ‘disastrous season’ at Old Trafford but eventually ‘outrun himself’.
If national team doctor Edwin Goedhart had not ‘put the brakes on’ and sent Van de Beek home, he would probably still be in the camp trying to prove a point.
That’s because of his background in Nijkerkerveen and his nature, which sees him rarely complain but roll up his sleeves ‘a bit more when things get tough’.
That meant he ‘did not flinch’ when his slight groin problem turned up and ‘continued to clear up at training’ courtesy of his painkillers.
He clearly hopes to ‘wash away the bad taste’ of his first season with Manchester United, but with that ‘holy goal’ in mind, he ultimately did Frank de Boer ‘a disservice’ as he would have picked someone else in the squad.
Instead, he’s a player down, and Van de Beek will spend the summer looking to ‘get rid of his symptoms’ and be fully fit for United next season.
Missing out on the Euros is a big blow for him, though, one ‘greater than the pain’ he’s been enduring for weeks and something painkillers won’t help with.
