Why Van de Beek would be a smart January signing for Everton

Stefan Bienkowski

Updated: 4 Oct 2021 14:49 BST
5 min read

Solskjaer promises Van de Beek will become ‘massively important’ to Man Utd — © ProShots

As Rafa Benitez’s Everton side showed at Old Trafford on Saturday with a 1-1 draw with Manchester United, they’re certainly no pushovers.

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Indeed, the Merseyside club have lost just one of their opening six league games and look as resolute in defence as any side in the English top flight.

However, a strong defence will only get your so far at this level and Benitez will know that attacking reinforcements will be needed in the January transfer window.

One hint as to where Everton may go looking for their next playmaker came on Monday afternoon, when the club’s technical director Marcel Brands confirmed that they tried to sign Man Utd midfielder Donny van de Beek during the summer window.

While Everton may have failed in their pursuit of the midfielder in the summer, there are plenty of reasons why a second bite at the cherry in January makes perfect sense.

© ProShots - James Rodriguez was one of Everton's best sources of assists last season

Everton need new playmakers

While Everton have looked good this season there’s no doubt that they’re short of playmakers this season.

James Rodriguez has left for the middle east, Gylfi Sigurdsson has been suspended by the club and that doesn’t leave many creative players in the middle of the pitch for Benitez to pick from.

Although Andros Townsend has provided plenty of assists from the wing thus far, the club could use more influence in the middle of the park. And that’s where Van de Beek can help this team.

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A post shared by Donny van de Beek (@donnyvdbeek)

He’s actually quite good

While it may be hard for Premier League fans to imagine, once upon a time Van de Beek was a very talented footballer. In fact, it wasn’t even that long ago.

In the 2019/20 season - the player’s final campaign for Ajax - Van de Beek bagged no less than 10 goals and 11 assists in all competitions for the Dutch club. And in the season before that he picked up an impressive tally of 17 goals and 13 assists in all competitions.

While the midfielder hasn’t quite managed that at Old Trafford, he’s still only 24 years of age and undoubtedly has plenty of time to turn things around in English football.