Donny van de Beek’s battle for regular playing time at Manchester United looks set to go on, despite his long-standing relationship with new boss Erik ten Hag.
Signed from Ajax in the summer of 2020, the Dutch midfielder has endured a nightmare two-year stint at Old Trafford, failing to ever establish himself in the starting XI. His first full season saw him start just a handful of games under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, before being effectively frozen out altogether last term.
Ralf Rangnick replaced Solskjaer at the end of 2021 but it was more of the same for Van de Beek, who was allowed to join Everton on loan during the January transfer window.
The arrival of Ten Hag has given the 25-year-old fresh shoots of optimism, having worked with his compatriot to great success at Ajax. "We had a fantastic squad in that time at Ajax. I really had a good relationship with him. Of course I am looking forward to meeting him again on the pitch,” the manager said in his first press conference.
Van de Beek came off the bench during Ten Hag’s first match as United boss as the Red Devils thrashed a much changed Liverpool side 4-0 in Bangkok. On that occasion, he replaced Bruno Fernandes and was deployed as an attacking midfielder, a role which Ten Hag believes to be his best.
"He can do both [sit deep and play high] - I know that from the past. But his best position is his capabilities in the box of the opponent, so playing short behind the striker [is his best role],” Ten Hag explained. “He has a really good smell for being in the right position."
HAVE YOUR SAY! Where is Van de Beek's best position at Man Utd? Let us know in the comments
And while the new manager clearly has more of a plan for Van de Beek than his predecessors, his prospects of regular football still appear unlikely. Ten Hag looks set to deploy a formation which will have two deeper lying midfielders supporting three attacking players behind a central striker.
Fernandes is in pole position to claim the starting berth in that position, despite a drop-off in form at the end of last season. And the competition for places looks set to only increase further, with hopes that Christian Eriksen will be formally confirmed as a United player later this week.
That all means Van de Beek faces a tough challenge to achieve his overwhelming ambition for the new campaign - earning more minutes on the pitch.
“I think making as many minutes personally as I can,” he said when asked about his main target for the new season. “I think we need to improve as a team. If you’re looking at last season, we have a lot of things to improve and, if we work on that now, then we’ll see where we end up. We will fight for everything.”
As for his struggles at Everton in the second half of last season, he added: “Obviously, I was a little bit unlucky with my injuries. I missed a lot of games but to have that experience… it was not an easy season for the team, because we played to avoid relegation, which is not what you want for a club like Everton, but, overall, it was a good experience to be there.”
