Donny van de Beek has found admirers and support hard to come by since he joined Manchester United from Dutch giants Ajax in the summer of 2020.
However, one key Red Devils figure who always seemed to back the Netherlands international right from the very start is Darren Fletcher. Perhaps it stems from the fact that the ex-Scotland international also had to fight tooth and nail for game-time at Old Trafford, though he eventually succeeded, unlike Van de Beek.
The £40million addition has featured just seven times in the league this term under a man he knows very well in ex-Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, now in the United hot seat. That figure is one less than the eight league appearances he made across the entirety of last term, though he has had to deal with a serious knee injury this season.
Things went south for Van de Beek fairly soon after his move to Manchester, so much so that the media back in his home country wasted very little time in urging him to call it quits and return.
A report in Dutch outlet De Telegraaf, via Sport Witness, told the midfielder to "pack his bags straightaway" if he wasn't named in the starting line-up the very next game.
However, Van de Beek stuck at it and Fletcher's intervention may have proved crucial. Speaking just one month after the ex-Ajax ace's arrival, the Scotsman addressed how places in the line-up were hard to come by and the then-new addition could find it difficult to break into the fold as a regular.
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"You really need strength in depth in there because you've got a big number of games to play and injuries are going to happen, so you need strength in depth all over the pitch," Fletcher explained.
"When I was at United we had five, six, seven midfielders fighting for two or three spots. And sometimes you got the jersey, you were the man in form and sometimes you were on the outside looking in – that’s just the way it is and the way it should be at a top club.
"You should be pushing each other. You shouldn't think that you're an automatic starter, and by adding players like Donny it gives competition for places and that squad depth."
Van de Beek's efforts to push the other midfielders at the club have unfortunately only left him further down the pecking order, but Fletcher's command for each player to 'push each other' has seemingly stuck with the Dutchman.
Despite the fact that he has barely appeared at all and has failed to complete a full 90 minutes in the league this season, Van de Beek consistently issues public shows of support for his United teammates both before and after games.
His mentality could prove to be invaluable for United in the last knockings of the season as the Red Devils aim to add the FA Cup and Champions League qualification to the Carabao Cup secured back in February.
