The summer transfer window of 2020 was marked by a great signing for Manchester United - for 39 million euros from Ajax, the Mancunians got one of the leaders of that brilliant team, Donny van de Beek, who was claimed by many top clubs on the continent. The Red Devils fans were very happy with the deal, anticipating how the Dutchman would be able to prove himself at Old Trafford.
Even more optimistic for fans and specialists was the age of Manchester United's recruit. He was just 23 when he moved to England, but he has already gained plenty of playing experience - he has played in more than a hundred games in the Dutch Eredivisie, as well as more than a dozen games in the Champions League main draw. Coupled with Donny's versatility, the deal seemed incredibly successful for the club from Manchester, but in reality events began to develop in a different scenario...
Van de Beek's debut in the English Premier League was unequivocally successful. On September 19 last year, coming on 67 minutes as a substitute in the home game against Crystal Palace in place of Paul Pogba, Donny became the author of the only goal of his team, which otherwise looked very weak, if not toothless - 1:3. But the Dutchman failed to develop his success, convincing Ole Gunnar Solskjær that the best place for van de Beek was on the bench.
As a result, in the APL 2020/21, van de Beek spent 19 matches, of which only 4 started in the starting lineup. Despite serious problems in the center of the field, where neither Paul Pogba, nor Fred, nor Scott McTominay were stable, not to mention the aging and losing grip on Nemanja Matic, the Dutchman was still the second, if not the third choice for Sulsher. He was the eternal backup and the main joker for when things got hot. However, it was foolish to expect van de Beek to perform the miracles he did at Ajax, his home team, where everything was clear, familiar and understandable, even at an intuitive level.
In the summer of 2021, Manchester United and Sulzer seemed to have no choice but to let van de Beek go. The Dutchman needed to get more playing time, and the Red Devils either helped their investment stay promising by sending the player on loan or try to recoup what they spent, even though Donny's potential value had fallen by nearly half in 12 months.
But van de Beek still decided to stay at Old Trafford, with Sulscher also promising in one comment to provide more playing practice for the Dutchman. As time revealed, the Norwegian's words were hardly worth believing, because he himself had to fight for the right to stay at the club, and for that Ule-Gunnar preferred to rely on proven personnel. Van de Beek had only six games in all competitions for Manchester United at the time of Sulsher's dismissal.
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Interestingly, in his last match at the helm of MJ, Sulscher threw in van de Beek for the second half of an away game against Watford. By that point, the home side were winning by two goals, and the Norwegian's decision at such a critical moment to bet on the man he least trusted in the first team was, frankly, surprising. Perhaps it was just the Norwegian's agony, but van de Beek only needed five minutes on the pitch to clear the score with a pass from Cristiano Ronaldo. In addition, the Dutchman was the best Manchester United player in terms of percentage of tackles won (67%) and, in general, he was excessively active on the pitch.
Unfortunately for the United fans, Harry Maguire's red card in front of him in the 69th minute prevented Sulser's team from fighting for anything more and salvaging at least a point. Furthermore, United fell apart in the final game, conceding two more goals and a 1-4 defeat at the hands of one of the tournament's outsiders resulted in Sulsher's dismissal as head coach, with Michael Carrick stepping in as coach on an interim basis.
In Manchester United's next official match, already without Sulsher, van de Beek was in the starting line-up for an important Champions League match against Villarreal. The Dutchman effectively replaced Bruno Fernandes, and although he didn't perform as well as he did against Watford, he still looked decent and clearly impressed with his effort.
Before the next calendar game, which was the APL game against Chelsea, Carrick praised van de Beek at a press conference: "Donny is a very versatile player. He can play in a lot of different positions in a lot of different functions. At Ajax and in the Dutch national team, van de Beek shows similar qualities. His versatility is a reality and one of the main advantages of Donny, as well as any other such player. We had ideas about the best position for van de Beek, but he is so flexible and integrated that he exceeded our expectations."
But Michael Carrick didn't stay long at the helm of the team.
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