Roy Keane thinks that Donny van de Beek absolutely cannot solve the problems at Manchester United. Fellow analyst Micah Richards brought up the midfielder’s name in the studio of Sky Sports, to Keane’s surprise. In a heated former midfielder, Van de Beek emphasized that last season was ‘very mediocre’, when he regularly got playing minutes.
Manchester United lost 0-2 to Manchester City on Saturday and Van de Beek, who was sung by the audience at Old Trafford, was given ten minutes as a substitute. Richards – former defender of Manchester City, among others – threw Van de Beek’s name on the table during the analysis Sky Sports and said Manchester United have spent £120million on him and Jadon Sancho. “Are you saying Van de Beek is the solution?”, a surprised Keane responded to Richards’ claim.
It’s getting very heated between Roy Keane and @MicahRichards after full time when Micah mentioned Donny van de Beek needing a chance ???? pic.twitter.com/rHl32Dglvl
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) Nov 6, 2021
“Van de Beek played towards the end of last season and then he was mediocre, very mediocre,” Keane clarified. Van de Beek had three base places in the final phase of the season last season: two in the Premier League and one in the Europa League. In total, he made 36 official games in his first season in England, 15 of which as a starting player. This season, the counter is only at five duels and two basic appearances.
“He should be given a chance. We talked about Fred and Scott McTominay, it always comes down to the same thing,” Richards said. Keane called the 39 million euros that Manchester United transferred to Ajax for Van de Beek a drop in the ocean. “Jack Grealish cost 117.5 million euros and was now on the bench at Manchester United.” Richards responded: “We constantly say that Solskjaer only plays with Fred and McTominay. McTominay is a talented player, who is having a hard time in this team. But why doesn’t he play with Van de Beek?”
Also in the program talkSPORT Van de Beek was the subject of discussion. “We’ve talked about this season and there are no excuses,” said Jamie O’Hara, former Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder. “Even Solskjaer said, ‘There are no excuses. We have a good team, we have Ronaldo: we are there.” They spent eighty million euros on Jadon Sancho and after he started playing for Solskjaer, he disappeared from the English squad.”
“This man (Solskjaer, ed.) is killing players. Van de Beek was nominated for the Ballon d’Or and now doesn’t even get playing minutes! There are many things that remain under the radar,” continues O’Hara. “If this happened to Jose Mourinho, people would knock on the door and say, ‘What are you doing with this player?!’ Sancho has not been included in the England squad by Solskjaer and that is not good.”