Marco van Basten levels crushing statement at struggling Donny van de Beek
Marco van Basten has bluntly assessed his fellow compatriot and struggling Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek.
Holland star Van de Beek is enduring a tough time at Old Trafford after his transfer from Ajax 12 months ago. Van de Beek arrived for £35m, plus £5m in add-ons and was expected to make an impact on United’s first team.
However, his move has turned into somewhat of a nightmare after just four Premier League starts. And the 24-year-old has yet to feature this season. His inactivity has now spilled over onto the international front. And former Holland coach Van Basten says he “is not that good”.
Called up by Louis van Gaal after missing Euro 2020 through injury, Van de Beek has yet to appear after being frozen out against Montenegro and Norway.
Van Gaal went with a trusted midfield trio of Georginio Wijnaldum, Frenkie de Jong and Davy Klassen in both World Cup qualifiers.
It’s more bad news for Van de Beek, whose agent has been very vocal in the last few days. In fact Guido Albers has revealed he tried to get Van de Beek to Everton on transfer deadline day, but United blocked the move.
Albers is of the belief that Van de Beek is an out-and-out number 10 and that is the view in Holland.
And with Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes ahead of him in that position his chances look few and far between.
Van Basten told Voetbal Zone: “It just wasn’t smart choices. If you say you spoke to Real Madrid and then you go to Manchester United, you are betting way too high.
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Van de Beek had options
“Van de Beek is not that good. As number 10 at Ajax it is much easier than as number 10 in Spain or England. In the Netherlands you get a lot of help, you get opportunities, but that is not the case abroad.”
Expanding on Van de Beek’s difficult situation last week, Albers told Voetbal International: “I prefer not to bring this up.
“Everyone who knows Donny… he just wants to play football, he loves football. So from my reaction… I think you can tell.
“There was a lot of interest from Italy, Germany, England, so that looked good. But you need the cooperation of the club, and it looked like they would, but ultimately they didn’t.
“It was disappointing but also reassuring for him so that he will his chance, and will get his minutes, but this will become clear in due course. He’s been promised that before but we came to a clear agreement about this with the club so we all have faith that it will happen now.”
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