Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has insisted that the club’s 2020 summer arrival Donny van de Beek is rated at the club despite the limited game time.
The 23-year-old Dutch center-midfielder joined Manchester United from Ajax on September 2, 2020, for a transfer fee worth €39 million. He signed a 5 year deal with the Premier League giants which is expected to keep him at Old Trafford until June 30, 2025.
Donny van de Beek was one of the highly-rated youngsters in the transfer market then. In his last season at Ajax, the Netherlands international made 37 appearances in all competitions, scoring 10 goals and providing 11 assists.
Though he was promoted to Ajax senior squad in 2016, his tremendous skills catapulted him to being one of the most important players at the club in less than two seasons. His tremendous growth and impact on Ajax’s game lured Manchester United to seek his services.
However, since he joined the Premier League club, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been finding it difficult to make him a more regular player. Also, the Dutch midfielder has not been able to break into the first eleven of the club despite coming into the club with so much promise.
So far in his career at United, Donny van de Beek has only made 2 starts in the Premier League and has made a total of 10 appearances in the league, 8 of which were from the bench.
In all competitions this season, he has made a total of 8 starts in 20 appearances. In a total of 762 minutes of football, Donny has managed to score just a goal and provided an assist.
His lack of game time under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has attracted a couple of criticism from the fans of the youngster and the critics of the coach. But the coach stressed ahead of United’s FA Cup match against Watford that the player would get his chance with time.
Solskjaer revealed that Donny van de Beek would feature in United’s FA Cup third-round match against Watford scheduled for today, January 9, at 21:00; and hoped that the midfielder would see it “as a good chance again to kick on.”
“There are so many examples of players needing a little bit of time, quality players. We have many examples ourselves and there are other clubs with examples. Sometimes it takes time”, Solskjaer said while clarifying Donny’s situation at United.
“You don’t expect people who care for him to be quiet at times, especially when they want the best for them.
“Donny is going to play tomorrow (today, January 9). That’s another chance for him and, yes, I’ve spoken to him and reiterated and made him aware of how much we rate him.”
Meanwhile, the Manchester United coach has confirmed that the club’s loanee, Odion Ighalo would feature against his former club Watford later today.
Ighalo has been on loan at Manchester United from Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua since January 2020. Today’s FA Cup match could be the Nigerian striker’s last opportunity to play for United again before his loan spell at the club expires at the end of January 2021.
"It's special for Odion to be involved against Watford," adds the boss.
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 8, 2021
"He always works hard in training and he's not lost any of his sharpness or quality."#MUFC #FACup pic.twitter.com/euQftE6dz6
