Marciano Vink wonders whether Donny van de Beek is not a footballer who, as number ten, only fits at Ajax. The midfielder annex the Dutch international has had a difficult first year at Manchester United and it is questionable whether he will appear more in the plans of manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer this season. In the first competition match with Leeds United (5-1) Van de Beek did not come off the bench of the Mancunians occasionally saw Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba shine with three goals and four assists respectively.
Van de Beek is part of the pre-selection of national coach Louis van Gaal, but he has a good chance of being the field player who has to drop out towards the upcoming international matches of the Dutch national team. Especially if he doesn’t get playing time in the games with Southampton and Wolverhampton Wanderers. “He is wasting away at United,” emphasized Marciano Vink in the Voetbal Talk program ESPN. “Of course he has one of the best number tens in Europe at the moment as a competitor. Bruno Fernandes is fantastic. If you see what he did against Leeds United last weekend… I think you get really small on the bench, you want to go home and kick in all the doors there.”
Vink also sees no role for Van de Beek as a controller in midfield. “You’ve got Scott McTominay, you’ve got Paul Pogba… It just won’t work.” Hans Kraay Jr. noted that Van de Beek also came in on a few occasions last season as a hanging right or left winger. “He’s not happy about that either.” He regrets the decline at Van de Beek. “When he came in last season, you saw that he was no longer a shadow of the player he was at Ajax. He walked with his soul under his arm. The balls the ones he got were just behind him, or not played well, and then you don’t get into your rhythm. It got worse by the week.”
Kraay Jr. cannot imagine that Van de Beek did not tell his agent Guido Albers and/or Manchester United that he should get on with playing football. “He is not someone who is there for the money. He was extremely good at Ajax, also in the small space.” Vink emphasized that abroad should also want a footballer like Van de Beek and that it should not just be a wish of the footballer. “I hope not, but I still have the suspicion that Van de Beek is a typical number ten of Ajax. Van de Beek is someone who is dependent on a type of Dusan Tadic, a type of Frenkie de Jong. Or a David Neres serving him in the running movement he has.”
“Look at that goal against Real Madrid. That was not an individual action. It is very hard abroad. They judge you on your individual action anyway. Types like Fernandes. That scores.” Manchester United paid Ajax 39 million euros for Van de Beek, an amount that can rise to 44 million euros based on variable clauses. The 24-year-old midfielder, who has played for Ajax since the age of 11, signed a contract until mid-2025. He made his debut in the first team of Ajax in 2015 and played 175 matches, in which he scored 41 goals and provided 34 assists. He won one national title with Ajax (2019), the TOTO KNVB Cup (2019) and the Johan Cruijff Scale (2020).
Related
More sports news