Marco van Basten and Frank de Boer have both dropped their telling verdicts on Girona midfielder Donny van de Beek’s ill-fated spell at Manchester United.
Donny van de Beek made a name for himself under Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag at Ajax before he arrived at Old Trafford in 2020.
United agreed a fee of £35m, including a further £5m in add-ons, to sign Van de Beek from the Dutch side, with Real Madrid interested in the player at the time.
However, Van de Beek was a shadow of his former Ajax self at United and struggled to secure regular first-team minutes under ex-United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The 27-year-old Dutch midfielder had loan spells at Everton and Eintracht Frankfurt during his time at Old Trafford, but Van de Beek was unable to turn things around.
Erik ten Hag’s arrival at United in 2022 from Ajax had offered hopes that Van de Beek could see a career revival under the Red Devils boss.
However, Van de Beek was unable to revitalise his form at Old Trafford and the former Ajax star was shipped off to Girona in the summer transfer window.
Van Basten on Van de Beek
Donny van de Beek made his exit from Old Trafford in July and the Netherlands international signed for La Liga side Girona for an initial fee of £420,600.
Manchester United’s deal for the Netherlands midfielder could reach up to £7.66m with additional add-ons, with the Red Devils agreeing a sell-on clause in the deal.
Van de Beek came off the bench for his Girona debut against Osasuna and the former United star picked up an assist in the 4-0 La Liga win last month.
Speaking on the Ziggo Sport podcast Rondo, Marco van Basten pulled no punches towards Van de Beek’s agent for engineering a “bad” move to United.
“His manager was a bad advisor in that [transfer to United],” he said, as per the Metro.
“That step was much too big. As an agent, you have to be able to decide – I’m sending him to that club because that’s where he’s going to play.
“He went to two clubs and didn’t play a match.”
Touching on Van de Beek’s assist, Van Basten added: “This was really a typical Van de Beek pass.”
De Boer on former Man Utd star Van de Beek
Frank de Boer, much like Van Basten, felt that United were not the right fit for Van de Beek and voiced his frustrations at what the player would do at the Red Devils.
“It’s actually crazy, idiotic and strange that such a player has barely played football for two years,” he said.
“Sometimes you have to join a club that suits you.”
“At Manchester United, I saw him pick up balls on the left wing. I say… ‘You shouldn’t be doing that, you have to go for that goal.’”
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/OEftCVm