The 26-year-old has joined Eintracht Frankfurt on loan until the end of the season.
Erik ten Hag has blamed injuries for ruining Donny van de Beek’s spell at Manchester United and insisted his experience should not put off other players from signing for the club.
Van de Beek, 26, joined Eintracht Frankfurt on loan until the end of the season, having failed to identify any of the other three managers (Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick and Ten Hag) at United since joining from Ajax in the summer. in 2020.
The £35m midfielder made just 23 starts in his three-and-a-half years at Old Trafford, and already spent time on loan when he joined Everton for the second part of the 2021-22 campaign, having been hampered by injuries at Goodison. Park.
Ten Hag worked with Van de Beek at Ajax, but hopes that a meeting in Manchester could revive the midfielder’s fortunes proved misguided.
“First of all, he’s had a lot of injuries,” Ten Hag said. “From the first moment I arrived here at Manchester United, he was not the player he was at Ajax because he was injured. On many occasions, he was not available and then he struggled for a long time to recover from this injury.
“That’s probably the main explanation why he wasn’t playing. We gave him a loan this summer but he didn’t come and his opportunities are few and far between as we also make appointments and deals with players and players under contract in that position. The competition It was fierce.
Van de Beek is among a number of players who have joined United on major deals in recent seasons but have then struggled to live up to the bill, with £72m winger Jadon Sancho also going out on loan in this transfer window after a previous stint. . fighting with Ten Hag.
But asked if others might look at Van de Beek’s experience and be wary of moving to Old Trafford, Ten Hag disagreed.
“You have to deal with it. But if you have confidence in yourself, that is the most productive challenge and it is the most productive club that you need to be in as a player. It depends from player to player, and it most often depends of the player’s character, of his personality.
Ten Hag will take his United to Wigan on Monday afternoon for the FA Cup third-round draw.
Andre Onana will be in the squad and should also be available to face Tottenham next weekend before joining up late with Cameroon for the Africa Cup of Nations.
But Onana’s back-up Altay Bayindir is yet to make his debut after a summer move from Fenerbahce and the trip to the DW Stadium could be an opportunity to give the Turkey goalkeeper a taste of first-team action before he is needed more regularly.
“At some point, André will leave,” he said. We’re completely satisfied and built this goalkeeping organization because we’re comfortable with it. We have confidence in any of them and they are very intelligent goalkeepers or experienced at the highest level.
“I think we can have policies, but not just policies, but a festival between two or three. We’re confident that if Andre has to go, we’re smart, we’re in a smart position, and we have a smart replacement to fill that void. .