Manchester United will not entertain any offers for Donny van de Beek because Erik ten Hag remains convinced that he can turn around his poor form.
Van de Beek’s time at United is yet to take off following his £35million transfer from Ajax in September 2020. But the arrival of Ten Hag – the manager he flourished under in the Netherlands – offers hope for an upturn and United are therefore resisting any interest in the midfielder.
Ajax have made a tentative approach for a season-long loan, but The Sun says United reacted by saying there was no chance of them letting Van de Beek leave. The Dutch champions could not afford to pay his £100,000-a-week wages anyway and would have asked United to subsidise a move.
Ten Hag has no intention of accepting such a compromise. He is sure that Van de Beek can contribute this season and is backing him to force his way into the starting line-up in the near future.
Van de Beek so far has just two goals and two assists in 52 appearances for United, although the majority of those appearances have come off the substitutes’ bench. He spent the second half of last season on loan with Everton, scoring one goal in seven games for Frank Lampard’s side.
The 25-year-old has been used as a late substitute in both of United’s games so far this season – a 2-1 defeat by Brighton at Old Trafford and a 4-0 thrashing by Brentford. Ten Hag has reportedly reached out to Van de Beek to try and establish what has gone wrong over the past two years and how he can turn things around.
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Van de Beek has been training well at Carrington and there is a sense that improvement is around the corner. He will be hoping to be involved in Monday’s crunch game against Liverpool at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag knows what Van de Beek can do, given he oversaw his brilliant form for Ajax, which culminated in the club’s run to the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2019. Playing as a No.8 with licence to get forward, the midfielder racked up 41 goals and 34 assists in 175 games for Ajax.
Back in May, Ten Hag was asked about whether he was looking forward to working with Van de Beek again. "Yes, of course," he said. "We had a fantastic squad in that time at Ajax. I really had a good relationship with him. Of course I am looking forward to meeting him again on the pitch."
Van de Beek has plenty of competition for places at United, with Scott McTominay, Fred, Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes soon to be joined by Casemiro following his £60m move from Real Madrid.
