Home » Donny van de Beek’s difficult Manchester United spell chronicled by former agent

Donny van de Beek’s difficult Manchester United spell chronicled by former agent

Dutch midfielder is still to establish himself at United under three different managers

by Ayantan Chowdhury

Slowly but surely, the pain of last season is disappearing and fans are convinced that Erik ten Hag is building towards something special.

The majority of United’s under-performing stars have found a new lease of life under the Dutch manager with the likes of Marcus Rashford and Diogo Dalot looking like brand-new players.

Unfortunately, one player whose condition has remained the same is Donny van de Beek. He recently came back from injury and is currently back in training.

Donny’s difficult Utd career

And despite his former Ajax boss taking over duties at United, his prospects have not seen a U-turn. He has played a total of 19 minutes, all of which came in the first three games.

Since the Liverpool game, Van De Beek is yet to get any game time and was injured prior to the Arsenal game. That robbed him of the chance to start in the Europa League.

It has been a difficult time for the midfielder since he arrived at United back in 2020. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did not trust the Dutch international and he hardly started in the Premier League.

And things got even worse next season which prompted the 25-year-old to change his agent. He was earlier represented by Guido Albers but then decided to shift base to Ali Dursun.

After missing out on the Euros due to injury, the versatile midfielder arrived for pre-season with the determination that he would impress Solskjaer and force his way into his plans for the season.

However, that did not happen and Albers, during an appearance on the #DoneDeal podcast, chronicled the events which ultimately led to his dismissal.

“He then made a plan with others to return to United in top condition. Then you hope for a chance, but politics and interests also play a role there.

“He had to compete with Paul Pogba. He reported to the training camp too late, said sorry and was allowed to play again – in the place of a boy who trained ten hours a day for eight weeks to show that he was good enough. I then accept that disappointment,” revealed Albers (via Voetbal Primeur).

Agent change

And that forced Van De Beek to look elsewhere as he felt his career was stagnating at United. But the Red Devils did not allow him to leave and the former Ajax star then ruthlessly changed agents, which hurt Albers personally.

“Because I didn’t see it coming. I saw the disappointment with the way he has been treated by Manchester United and he has seen up close what I did to turn the situation around. But from the day he was not allowed again leaving Manchester United, it was final.”

United have 13 games in the space of little over a month before teams head off for the World Cup. Van De Beek will be hoping to impress his former Ajax boss and get increased game time.

Fans have been patient and still want him to succeed at United. But if it does not happen under Ten Hag, there is a growing belief that a permanent solution would suit both parties.


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