Erik ten Hag gave a compliment about Donny van de Beek at the Manchester United press conference on Friday in the run-up to the competition match with West Ham United. The 25-year-old midfielder made his return on Thursday in the Europa League match with Sheriff Tiraspol (3-0 win) after a long injury, and Ten Hag plans to give Van de Beek more playing time in the coming period.
Van de Beek came in the 79th minute as a replacement for Alejandro Garnacho. A few minutes later he saw Cristiano Ronaldo make the 3-0, after which the former Ajax player could have scored himself. However, he slipped the ball wide after a cross from Marcus Rashford. It was the first minutes of play for Van de Beek since the end of August. In the intervening two months, he missed all games due to injury.
Ten Hag is happy that he could call on Van de Beek again on Thursday, he says at the press conference. “He’s been out for a long time. I’m glad I was able to give him and Harry Maguire minutes because they need playing time to get in shape and we need them in the coming weeks.” The manager of Manchester United was also pleased with the game of the midfielder from Nijkerkerveen. “He moved well between the lines.”
If Van de Beek had not been injured in recent months, Ten Hag would have given him a chance more often. “If you analyze the season, if he had been available, he would have had his chances. We need goals and I know that Donny is very good at choosing position to score goals, but he can also switch very well,” the manager concluded with praise.
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