Van de Beek Man Utd future bleak after Fernandes and Eriksen star
FT Desk
- 27 Aug 2022 14:33 BST
- 3 min read
Donny van de Beek's Manchester United future could hardly be more questionable with Erik ten Hag settling on Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen as his No.8s of choice.
United finally look to have steadied the ship, beating Liverpool and Southampton in consecutive games with Ten Hag using exactly the same starting line-up each time.
While most of the column inches will be dedicated to the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire were left out for the second game running, the Van de Beek situation is curious.
We now go live to Donny van de Beek: pic.twitter.com/WIGGHQ5IQn
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) April 21, 2022
The 25-year-old was expected to be one of the primary beneficiaries of Ten Hag's arrival in June, the pair having won the Dutch domestic treble together in 2019, but the manager was shocked at his midfielder's shattered confidence, and he hasn't yet put him in from the start.
Instead, Fernandes and Eriksen have been paired in midfield, either side of Scott McTominay, whose place in the team will likely, in the longer run, go to Casemiro, who arrived this week from Real Madrid for €82.5 million.
Ideal midfield
Fernandes was used as a No.10 under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and then Ralf Ragnick last season, but he has had no problems dropping deeper into midfield alongside Eriksen, who fulfilled a similar role with Brentford last season.
Fernandes proved the difference between the sides on Saturday, expertly volleying home Diogo Dalot's 55th-minute cross for 1-0 to move onto 37 goals since his February 2020 debut - a figure only Mo Salah (54), Harry Kane (49) and Son Heung-Min (45) have bettered in that time.
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Eriksen and Fernandes took it in turns to join the attack, the former in particular also stroking the ball around well when United were in possession.
Ronaldo got on for Jadon Sancho in the 68th minutes, while Casemiro also came on for a late debut, but Van de Beek watched the whole game from the bench.
United are now up to the dizzy heights of sixth in the Premier League. The transfer window closes on Thursday. Don't expect Donny to be around for any more of their comeback.
