The end of next month will mark the one-year anniversary of, arguably, the lowest ebb of Donny van de Beek's Manchester United career.
After being thrashed 5-0 by Liverpool six days earlier, United travelled to the capital to face Tottenham Hotspur in the Saturday evening kick-off a day before Halloween, with the hope of avoiding another nightmare. It was a must-win game for former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and he was expected to ring mass changes after what had happened at Old Trafford the previous weekend.
In fact, Solskjaer opted to make just two changes, choosing to revert to a back-three. It meant that Raphael Varane came into the side, forming a three-man defence with Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof.
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The midfield, however, remained unchanged, with Scott McTominay and Fred joining Bruno Fernandes in the engine room. Both McTominay and Fred were outclassed by Liverpool the week before, meaning United's supporters expected Solskjaer to bite the bullet and give Van de Beek the chance he had been craving.
Instead, the Dutchman was restricted to bench duties once again. While that was a bad enough story in itself, it what was happened before kick-off that summed up his Old Trafford career. In video footage captured by a United supporter in the away end, Van de Beek was spotted being called away from the substitutes warming-up and was instructed to tee the balls up for United's starters to have some practice shots at goal instead.
There he was, a £40million signing, conducting a duty that a member of Solskjaer's coaching staff ought to have been doing. Van de Beek wasn't used again that evening and he has made just ten Premier League appearances in United colours since, either side of his loan at Everton, amounting to just over an hour and 20 minutes, even though he has now been reunited with former Ajax manager Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag's appointment as United manager back in May was meant to kick-start Van de Beek's career in M16. The former had overseen his rise at Ajax and was responsible for making his move to Old Trafford in September 2020 possible.
However, the Dutchman has made just three appearances under Ten Hag so far, racking up a paltry 19 minutes worth of action as a substitute in United's opening three Premier League matches this season. He has recently been sidelined through an unspecified injury, meaning he has missed the last three matches in all competitions.
But now that he is back on the grass at Carrington ahead of the season resuming next weekend, Van de Beek will be hoping that he can prove to Ten Hag that he is still capable of making a name for himself in England. United's October schedule, on paper, is a daunting one, such is the volume of fixtures.
Starting with the short trip to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City in the derby on October 2, United have nine fixtures in the space of just 29 days. It is a period that will require every member of Ten Hag's squad to be ready for when they might be needed.
With three Europa League fixtures sandwiched among six Premier League matches, rotation is going to become a common theme next month, even if Ten Hag has recently refused to tinker too much. Competition for places is high within the squad, meaning the United manager will not be light on options when it comes to making necessary tweaks.
In midfield, Scott McTominay, Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes have each established themselves in Ten Hag's preferred system, leaving the likes of Casemiro, Fred and Van de Beek in reserve. Against Real Sociedad earlier this month, Ten Hag decided to rotate his pack, but chose to leave Eriksen in midfield, accompanying him with Casemiro and Fred.
Fred, to everyone's surprise, started in the advanced-midfield role, leaving Eriksen in his newly-found No.8 position. It was a decision that backfired and Van de Beek, had he been fit, would have been the better choice, especially when you consider that Ten Hag described the No.10 role as his best during the pre-season tour of Australia in July.
With opportunities having proven limited over the last 12 months, October's relentless-looking schedule will pave the way for Van de Beek to try and rekindle his career, surely? If it doesn't, and Ten Hag chooses to overlook him, his United career is as good as over.
If Ten Hag can't get him firing on all cylinders again, nobody will.
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