Van de Beek given lifeline to save Man Utd career

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 19 May 2021 11:39 BST
• 2 min read

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hinted that he will give Donny van de Beek more opportunities over the next few weeks to save his Man Utd career.

Van de Beek was a big summer signing last summer as Man United splashed out up to €45 million to buy him from Ajax.

However, the midfielder has proved to be a massive flop – scoring just one goal and making one assist in all competitions.

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The Dutchman has fallen well down the Manchester United pecking order and has made just three substitute league appearances tallying 63 minutes in 2021.

Solskjaer says that Van de Beek has looked like a new player since returning from international duty with the Netherlands.

The 23-year-old scored for the Dutch in their 7-0 World Cup qualifying win over Gibraltar.

“He scored some absolute crackers in training this morning!” Solskjaer told the press.

Van de Beek: Man Utd statistics in 2020/21

“Sometimes, it’s natural that if you don’t play, you have injuries, you lose a bit of confidence, that spark.

“You go away with your national team… I can talk from my own experience. Sometimes I went away to play with Norway and came back, just to get the feel about yourself back and feel better.

“He’s come back and, in training this morning, he scored some absolute top, top goals that I’d be really proud of myself.

“It’s done him the world of good going away, scoring a goal for Holland.

“We hope we can see a lot of that for the next seven or eight weeks of the season and then to kick on again.”

Van de Beek will be hoping to immediately be given a chance on Sunday when Man Utd host Brighton on Sunday.