Donny van de Beek ‘expected to be playing games’ for Manchester United, says Rio Ferdinand
Rio Ferdinand has expressed his surprise at the lack of game time being enjoyed by summer signing Donny van de Beek at Manchester United.
The former Ajax man arrived to much fanfare over the summer, although there was also surprise in some quarters at signing a player who had mostly excelled in similar areas of the pitch to Bruno Fernandes and, to a lesser extent, Paul Pogba.
The 23-year-old has played just 852 minutes across all competitions this season and hasn’t scored since his debut, playing no part at all in United’s last three league games.
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Ferdinand says it’s likely that the Dutchman expected to be seeing far more time on the pitch when he arrived and says he’ll be fearing for his place at the European Championships in the summer if the situation doesn’t change.
“I’m really surprised he’s not played more minutes,” Ferdinand said on BT Sport. “I’m 100 per cent certain that he expected to play more.
“The interesting point with the whole van de Beek situation is, what was the conversation in negotiations coming here? When you negotiate a contract to go somewhere, you come into the football club knowing where you are, if you’re going to start, or are they going to have to work their way into the team.
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“That’s the important part and we don’t know the answer yet. I’m sure from the soundings that his agent has been given off, he expected to be playing games and be a major part of this team.
“It hasn’t materialised so far, and he’s got a Euros to worry about if that goes ahead.”
Van De Beek has been behind Fred and Scott McTominay in terms of United’s regular double-pivot pairing in midfield, with Nemanja Matic having also see more game time than the Dutchman.
He played the full 90 minutes in United’s 1-0 FA Cup win over Watford on Saturday and will hope for more involvement in the upcoming league match against Burnley – where a point or better would send Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team top of the Premier League table ahead of their upcoming clash at champions, and current league leaders, Liverpool.
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