The football transfer market has recently been set ablaze by rumours that Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek could be on his way to Manchester United. Reportedly, both the clubs have agreed on a fee of around 40 Million GBP, and as soon as the paperwork completes, the deal will be announced and made official.
After finishing third in the league and qualifying for the Champions League next season, Manchester United have surprised even their own fans. The arrival of Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon can be credited to changing the Red Devil’s fate. After being linked to Borussia Dortmund’s right-winger Jadon Sancho for the entire transfer window, it is being reported that talks have broken down between the two parties, and the Englishman will be staying at Dortmund.
Academy product van de Beek has spent five seasons in Ajax’s first team making close to 200 appearances in all competitions for the Amsterdam club. He was one of the star performers for Ajax as they embarked upon a now called legendary run to the semi-finals of the 2018-19 Champions League. Although it is being reported that when Barcelona bought Frenkie De Jong, they also enquired for de Beek and a double switch was possible, but the deal was not completed.
The 23-year-old scored eight goals and assisted five times in the 2019-20 Eredevise season which ended due to Coronavirus pandemic, leaving the league without a winner. There is no doubt that the Dutchman would be a perfect match for Manchester United. He can be deployed as a box-to-box midfielder, a deep-lying playmaker and as a number 10 as well. Beek would provide cover for Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba. If United are to play three midfielders in Pogba, Fernandes and de Beek, this could perhaps leave the squad a little more open on the defensive front as they would lack the “Destroyer” role that Nemanja Matic plays.
It is now more than likely that one of Andreas Pereira and Jesse Lingard will leave the club before the October 5 deadline. Both of them have underperformed and have been rightly on the transfer list. Van de Beek is the perfect replacement for both of them. With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer making it very clear that he wants to revamp and refresh his squad this summer, the first signing in Van de Beek is an addition that carries a lot of weight and makes club’s intentions and goals for the future a little more achievable.