Wednesday, December 1, 2021 at 3:35 pm• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 15:56

In his first months at Manchester United, Donny van de Beek was compared to Henrikh Mkhitaryan by the coaching staff of then manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, claims are made. ESPN. The staffers would have felt that the Ajax midfielder would struggle to adapt to the pace of the Premier League. Under the recently fired Solskjaer, Van de Beek never managed to grow into a fixed value. The Norwegian only allowed him 198 playing minutes this season.

Members of Solskjaer’s coaching staff made a comparison with Mkhitaryan at United and believed that Van de Beek would be more familiar with playing in the Champions League than in the Premier League, having come over from Ajax for 44 million in September 2020 . Mkhitaryan made the switch from Borussia Dortmund to Old Trafford for €35 million in 2016, but also failed to match his strong game. BVB show in the Premier League. After 1.5 years, he left United through the back door for Arsenal in a swap deal with Alexis Sanchez.

Van de Beek never managed to secure a permanent base at Manchester United under Solskjaer. In the last weeks under the Norwegian coach’s rule, more and more noises were made in the English media to give the Dutchman more opportunities. He was also loudly sung to by the United crowd when he played. Van de Beek has had to make do with few substitutes this season, no matter how bad things went for United. Including during Solskjaer’s last official game as manager of the Red Devils Van de Beek was loudly sung to when he came inside the lines against Watford after the break and scored.

With Solskjaer sacked and Ralf Rangnick appointed as interim manager for the remainder of the season, the 24-year-old midfielder hopes to be given new opportunities to showcase his qualities. Van de Beek scored as a substitute during the defeat against Watford (4-1) and was given a base place by Michael Carrick, who temporarily takes over the honours, in the Champions League game against Villarreal (2-0). However, Van de Beek had to make a short substitute against Chelsea (1-1) last weekend. He replaced Bruno Fernandes in the 89th minute. United are currently eighth in the Premier League with 18 points from 13 games and will receive a visit from Arsenal on Thursday evening.