Manchester United coaches reportedly feel that Donny van de Beek is ultimately not that different to Jesse Lingard in terms of what he offers the team.
The Netherlands international was highly rated in his time at Ajax, and he looked an exciting purchase when he made the move to Man Utd last season.
However, Van de Beek has barely played, and it’s all been a bit puzzling as he’s often looked quite useful in the limited appearances he has made for the first-team.
It seems that United simply don’t rate Van de Beek that highly, with ESPN suggesting that the club’s coaches have not seen anything from him to suggest he’s any better than Lingard, who has also been out of favour for a long time.
It’s hard to believe that MUFC spent this much money on someone who wasn’t really any different to a player they already had warming their bench, but it just sums up what a mess the club’s recruitment has been for a while now.
Still, it may well be that Van de Beek has it in him to go somewhere else at some point and prove United wrong.
The Red Devils have been hurt that way before, with players like Angel Di Maria, Memphis Depay and Romelu Lukaku flopping at the club before going on to shine once they left.
From Van de Beek’s point of view, he surely needs to get out of Old Trafford as soon as possible if this is how they think of him!