Although Donny van de Beek’s move should have been arranged months ago, Man United is frantically trying to offload him.
In his three years at Manchester United, Donny van de Beek has never appeared to be able to consistently hold down a starting position.
In the end, Van de Beek is not solely to blame for this. Any arrival under Erik ten Hag was doomed by his terrible knee injury in January, but even before that, the Dutch coach, like his forebears, did not see a place for him in the squad.
In United’s midfield, there may be more competition than ever. The Reds can count on Sofyan Amrabat, Mason Mount, Kobbie Mainoo, and Scott McTominay to fill any gaps over the course of the season in addition to Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, and Christian Eriksen, who started at Arsenal. Hannibal Mejbri and Dan Gore, for example, will harbor hopes of making the first team this season.
United has a surprising number of alternatives in center midfield for a squad that is dealing with an injury problem. Given this, Van de Beek’s future ought to have been decided far earlier.
Even though Amrabat only signed on the final day, it was clear from the start of the season that the 26-year-old would not be a starter this year. United ought to have been making every effort to remove him from the books at this point.
Van van Beek’s career at Old Trafford is over, thus selling him permanently would have been the best course of action; but, a loan switch might have been sufficient. In any case, United badly hampered their chances of selling their player as soon as the market closed on Friday.
The Turkish Super Lig is United’s final opportunity to complete a transfer, but the entire ordeal demonstrates a lack of planning. It was a mistake to wait until the last minute to swap Van de Beek since the Reds learned the hard way with Harry Maguire how tough it is to convince players to go.
Van van Beek being in Manchester until January is not in the best interests of either United or him, but if this happens, the Reds will only have themselves to blame for delaying taking action.
