Donny van de Beek points the finger over Man Utd struggles after exit

Daily Mirror

21-05-2025

Donny van de Beek was never given a fair shot at Manchester United and has attributed his injury woes to the amount of time he spent on the bench at Old Trafford
Donny van de Beek has claimed his injury struggles date back to his time warming the bench at Manchester United. The Dutchman was signed in 2020 but was unable to ever make himself a regular.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spent £35million to land the versatile attacker, but only made us of him sporadically as Van de Beek's frustration mounted. He scored on his debut but was rarely preferred to Bruno Fernandes with his minutes very much at a premium.
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He's since left, joining Girona in Spain, but has continued to battle an Achilles issue. The Dutchman has enjoyed far more minutes than he did at Old Trafford but clearly still has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to his underwhelming stint in Manchester.
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Solskjaer continued to defend his lack of use of the player, but in the years since Van de Beek's health has been a battle. He confessed that the time he spent as a sub means his body was less accustomed to the intensity of playing regularly.
He told SportBible: "It's difficult to build rhythm and confidence when you're constantly being sidelined. It's hard to be at your best when you're in and out of the team, and I think when you're not playing regularly. Your body isn't used to the intensity and you become more prone to injuries. The lack of consistent minutes didn't help either."
Van de Beek's goal on his debut did little to aid his cause and even when he would impress he was quickly returned to his bench role. He also admits the random cameos did nothing for his case with bit part minutes not helping him become a regular.
He said: "I think I deserved more chances, especially in my first year. I didn't play all the time, but when I did, I had some good games. I was convinced I would get more opportunities. I felt good, and thought, 'Okay, my time will come' but for some reason, it didn't happen. After a year or two, it gets harder because if you don't get a longer run of games then it's difficult to prove yourself."
Van de Beek would score the last goal of the Solskjaer era as he came off the bench to score what would be a consolation during a 4-1 loss at Watford. The Norwegian was forced to defend his use of the player on several occasions and claimed leaving him on the bench spoke to the quality of the squad.
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"I think it says a lot about our depth of quality in the squad that we don't have to use him every single game," he said.
Despite that claim Van de Beek would make just four starts in his only full season under Solskjaer and things didn't change when Erik ten Hag, who coached him at Ajax, came on board before he eventually left Manchester.