Manchester United star Donny van de Beek was obviously impressive in the win vs Istanbul Basaksehir but perhaps those who watched the match didn’t quite appreciate him as much as he deserved.
The young Dutchman started alongside Fred in a pivot in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer‘s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation and it’s safe to say he did a solid job.
Van de Beek is a player fans wanted to see more of and he made full use of the opportunity handed to him, perhaps even forcing the legendary Norwegian to consider giving him back to back starts.
The former Ajax star has had a slow start to his career at United and he is not to blame as he has always put in a good shift whether he was coming off the bench or starting.
Solskjaer has consistently insisted Van de Beek will get minutes and his time will come, judging by the stats below, that may be the case already.
No Man Utd player passed the ball to Bruno Fernandes more times against Istanbul Başakşehir than Donny van Beek
A look at his influence on the Man Utd shape. ???? pic.twitter.com/vn504Ww0UJ
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) November 24, 2020
Incredible Stat:
Donny van de Beek attempted 60 passes vs IBFK. 49 of them were with his first or second touch!
1-touch pass: 31/60 (52%)
2-touch pass: 18/60 (30%)
3-touch+ pass: 11/60 (18%) pic.twitter.com/iSprixrSl6— UtdArena (@utdarena) November 25, 2020
Van de Beek’s efficiency in terms of almost always completing his passes is impressive enough but the fact he does so with such little touches is all the more impressive.
He doesn’t need to hold onto the ball for long and yet can still create chances and progress play well so he’s more dangerous than he looks.
This summer’s transfer window has been one of the strangest in living memory. So cast your mind back to less stressful days and test your knowledge of past United arrivals and departures in our quiz below.