Donny van de Beek wanted to leave Manchester United because Paul Pogba was apparently receiving preferential treatment at Old Trafford, according to his former agent.
Van de Beek joined the Red Devils in the summer of 2020 in a deal which could eventually set Man United back £40million. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in charge of the club at the time, and, from the off, used the midfielder sparingly.
Pogba has since left Man United and joined Juventus on a free. But towards the end of his time with the Red Devils, the Frenchman found himself ahead of Van de Beek in the pecking order - despite suggestions his teammate was more deserving of a place in the starting XI.
Van de Beek's former agent Guido Albers claims the situation became so bad for the Netherlands international after Pogba was picked to play ahead of him despite allegedly turning up late for training one week that the midfielder decided it was time to leave.
Albers told Voetbal Primeur: "I saw the disappointment about the way he was treated by Manchester United, and he saw up close what I did to turn the situation around. But from the day he was not allowed to leave Manchester United again, it was final.
"In the Netherlands, Donny got all the appreciation, performed well and was super popular with the fans. At Manchester United, he then never played. The relationship between him and the club really cooled down badly.
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"He had to compete against Paul Pogba, who reported late to the training camp, said sorry and was allowed to play again – in the place of a boy who was training 10 hours a day for eight weeks to show he was good enough.
"I then had that disappointment thrown at me. I underestimated what not playing anymore did to him mentally. I should have looked earlier: how can I help him?"
Van de Beek secured a loan move to Everton last season but struggled to rejuvenate his career in the way he would have liked.
He's back at United now who are on their second manager post-Solskjaer - a coach the Dutchman knows very well from their time spent together at Ajax, Erik ten Hag.
So far this season Van de Beek has made only three appearances in a United shirt under Ten Hag, but there is hope the 25-year-old can find his best form working with the man that helped put him on the map back in 2020.
