Donny van de Beek image 34

Donny van de Beek Netherlands flag

2020-21 Performances


View full 2020-21 profile

5.7 Season Average Rating
Appearances
36
Goals
1
Assists
2
Yellow cards
1
Status
Not open for further replies.
it’s because our forwards aren’t consistently good at passing or creating space and chances. They also ignore his runs a lot and chose the more selfish route. In lots of games this season they look just like 3 random strikers thrown on the pitch to nick a result without much thought for chemistry and balance. I don’t see the unity in the play. It also didn’t help that our best player is rarely on the pitch with him. We are always useless without Bruno these days VDB probably isn’t going to come in and thrive in a situation like that. He needs to start getting games as the season goes on but he’s not gelling well enough to get the minutes he needs. No panic from me. If he doesn’t gel better next season I’m sure he’ll move on.
I like to see him with Cavani up top and see how he does. Also at somepoint him and bruno in the same XI. Maybe at home games against so called easier opposition.

I agree our young strikers are quite selfish and need to develop their all round game. If DVB was a city player he'd be a star.
 
I don't usually write players off and I really hope i'm wrong, I've nothing against Donny. I would be absolutely amazed if he turns this around though.

Looks bang average to me. Reminds me of Tom Cleverly...... but without getting on the ball as much.

Will be very happy to eat my words.
 
How come people believe that VdB was forced onto Ole by the Board? Why on Earth would they spend a lot of money in a player who is not really needed during pandemic time? I am sure VdB has been purchased at Ole's request and thus Ole does need to bear responsibility for getting the most out of him. As Ole himself said previously no player can come into the team or leave it without his final say.
He was purchased as he was a "bargain" at £40mil. A player who was due to sign for Real Madrid until Covid happened. Not for one moment do i think he was a Ole request. I think the club knew Pogba was going to leave, didnt want to be held to ransom when he did and bought DVB as a replacement. Not a direct replacement as they are different types of player but as a replacement for the longer term. Give him a season to settle in.
 
I'm also in the "give him time" camp. You can tell that he is an intelligent player. He will adjust, I'm sure.
 
This is beginning to be a joke. What has Ole or anyone else in the coaching staff seen in Donny? His abilities do not work well in the system they want - he's a possession, intelligent, fast-playing footballer who's ended up in a counter-attacking 2-3 passes before shot kind of club. I cannot see what groundwork has been done to tell them that Donny is suited for the style currently used at United. Bruno and him are so unlike each other in style, where the former fits the mold perfectly and the latter doesn't.
 
Fred has proven that player’s performances can drastically improve given time to settle. At some point though he’ll need to be given a decent run of games like Fred was. There’s no way a player can sit on the bench for 5 matches and then be expected to perform to their max. Same goes for players like Axel too. They’re in a difficult position really.
 
I don't have any expectation from him coming on for isolated matches. He cant really build any match rhythm or get to build much with his teammates.
 
Did we keep the receipt? I mean usually when players are not doing well, you can see a light at the end of the tunnel, He´s showed nothing but that he´s an average player at best. If we wanted to keep a player with inteligent movement we could have kept Jesse Lingard.
 
How come people believe that VdB was forced onto Ole by the Board? Why on Earth would they spend a lot of money in a player who is not really needed during pandemic time? I am sure VdB has been purchased at Ole's request and thus Ole does need to bear responsibility for getting the most out of him. As Ole himself said previously no player can come into the team or leave it without his final say.
Yeah, I would ignore such speculation. But he always said VDB would need time to adjust and, it seems, Ole knew what he was talking about.
 
He can settle until the we've all been washed away by rising sea levels, Donny van de Beek always does what he did in all his matches for United so far. He plays a short and riskfree pass to a team mate and runs towards the box. It has nothing to do with settling in. That's just what he does and all he does. It's what he did at Ajax too. He's not a classical 10, he's most definitely not a 6 or whatever a defensive midfielder is called, he just complemented Ajax'playstyle with Tadic as a false 9 who would drop deeper and switch positions with him. That's why he keeps getting in the way of Cavani / Martial / Rashford.

He's not a bad player (nor a very good player), he just has an extremely limited toolkit which is not suited for this level. I hope he can somehow add some more dimensions to his game, but the way he place does not have anything to do with him having to settle. it's like expecting Robben to stop cutting inside once he's settled in a bit. Not going to happen.
 
Can't really make any conclusions as he is always out of the play. Teammates don't seem to find him very often and he himself doesn't search for the ball as well and doesn't participate in build-up. This doesn't seem to be his own decision, it seems he is asked to be next to Cavani/Martial on the build-up. That's a bit weird to me as he is basically useless like that.

As many others I think his best position would be nr 8. Not even CAM, lower than that. Maybe there's something in him as a CAM/CF what I'm not seeing but he has had many of chances to show that and hasn't delivered. So it makes me think we are just using him wrong.
 
Definitely needs time. I've got plenty of patience with him still and I like the things he can offer.

Seems odd how rarely he runs with the ball though. Seems to almost be a bumper that people can pass it into and get it back but I never really see him running with it. Always seems to play the pass from exactly where he received it.
 
This.

Complaining about him not being a playmaker is just talking about the wrong player.

He needs to play with a playmaker and creative players in the team because VDB is a clinical player in the final third who makes runs as a shadow striker.

That's why people say he suits teams with a system, able to control possession and play at their own tempo. We are largely the opposite, our most creative player plays as an AM (not deep) whilst we value the counterattack when we dont have the ball and when we do have the ball we are trying to get the ball to our most capable player like Rashford and Bruno Fernandes to dribble past the defensive line or create something or shoot on site. VDB is making the runs as a shadow striker but our players dont see him just as much as the opposition dont (arguably not having the passing ability to reach him from deep either ie Fred & Mctomminay vs De Jong) and leaves him looking like he is running away from the ball all the time.
It's odd. I don't know why we needed that sort of player considering we already have Bruno. A more playmaking AM would have added so much more.

I hope he comes good soon because we can't have these signings taking a year or two to start delivering. Not looking good ATM , hopefully by the end of the season we seem to have a real player on our hands.
 


Watching his goals for Ajax, he does come across as a penalty box predator. More of a shadow striker than a playmaker.

Reminds me of Thomas Muller, albeit a shorter version.
 
Last edited:
This is such a weird one. He is nowhere near as good as Bruno in the 10 and nowhere near as good as Pogba in a 6. However, he will be better if you want the team to recycle the ball better and retain possession as I do believe he is only better in terms of his 1 or 2 touch play over Bruno and Pogba but this is nowhere near good enough if we want to be challenging for major honours!

I am willing to give him a chance for another season in hope he adds to his game but I don't see how he breaks into the starting 11 and at best I feel he would just give us more productive performances off the bench compared to what he has been giving us this year.

Would like to see him start and get a proper run in the Europa League games as maybe that would kickstart his career here? Just me trying to remain optimistic...
 
He can settle until the we've all been washed away by rising sea levels, Donny van de Beek always does what he did in all his matches for United so far. He plays a short and riskfree pass to a team mate and runs towards the box. It has nothing to do with settling in. That's just what he does and all he does. It's what he did at Ajax too. He's not a classical 10, he's most definitely not a 6 or whatever a defensive midfielder is called, he just complemented Ajax'playstyle with Tadic as a false 9 who would drop deeper and switch positions with him. That's why he keeps getting in the way of Cavani / Martial / Rashford.

He's not a bad player (nor a very good player), he just has an extremely limited toolkit which is not suited for this level. I hope he can somehow add some more dimensions to his game, but the way he place does not have anything to do with him having to settle. it's like expecting Robben to stop cutting inside once he's settled in a bit. Not going to happen.

I'd suggest anyone that still doesn't get this go watch even 2 minutes of his Ajax highlights because it's obvious what he brings and what he won't deliver.

Yesterday he got played with two strikers who just want to cut in and shoot and another forward who wants to come deep. I'm not sure where he was supposed to pick space yesterday or who was supposed to play the pass to him. What were the coaches expecting?

In the lesser games play him and Bruno and he'll start picking up goals. I can't see any other route where he's of use so it's that or sell him.
 


Watching his goals for Ajax, he does come across as a penalty box predator. More of a shadow striker than a playmaker.


That's exactly what he is and the player I was expecting Donny to be.

I don't really understand the calls for him to play in centre midfield. He played there last season but that was mostly to compensate for Ajax losing De Jong. Also the way in which he uses the ball, tidy, neat, that's not really what we need in the midfield position.

He's clearly a superior on the ball players to the likes of Fred and Matic but he has nowhere near their physicality. Against a lot of Premier League midfields he'd just get bullied in a deeper role. Also taking him away from the opposition box takes away his greatest strength, which is finding space in the penalty area to get shots off.
 
Definitely needs time. I've got plenty of patience with him still and I like the things he can offer.

Seems odd how rarely he runs with the ball though. Seems to almost be a bumper that people can pass it into and get it back but I never really see him running with it. Always seems to play the pass from exactly where he received it.
That's always been his playstyle. At Ajax he was a sort of bumper between De Jong and Tadic / Ziyech. De Jong plays it to him he bumps it to Ziyech, runs into the box gets it back and scores or taps it to someone else who scores. He will never be the one to play the incisive pass or dribble past a player. He works well in tandem with a ball retaining striker he likes to receive the ball with the back to the goal and link up with an oncoming Vd Beek. This type of play is obviously not suited to the way United are set up and you'd be crazy to tailor your team to Donny vd Beek as he's simply not that good.

Sometimes I really wonder how football scouts do their job.
 


Watching his goals for Ajax, he does come across as a penalty box predator. More of a shadow striker than a playmaker.

Tha'ts because he is.

People expecting him to come in and play like Fernandes in the same style are just a bit confused I think.

He's never been the type to drop deep get on the ball and dictate play, he's a 2nd striker that has a great touch and quick thinking pass.

I didn't think he played badly at all agains West Ham, the team just need to trust him more. So many times he was open but they'd rather pass wide to Telles/Rashford in space.
 
He's clearly talented and his reaction to being subbed said it all about his current confidence level. As usual, he's being written off too quickly on here. What I will say though is I truly don't think he will make it at the top level playing that number 10 position. You can say what you want about his time at Ajax and the position he played there, but I think for him to have a future here, he will have to adapt to a deeper role because he doesn't get involved enough when he's in the final third. From what I've seen in a Utd shirt he's been at his best in the double-pivot where he can get on the ball, use his quick feet to evade the press and give sharp passes between the lines into our forwards. I think in time he could really turn that role into his own but Ole has to begin to trust him physically from a defensive perspective first.
 
I really want the kid to succeed, and everything is very tidy, but could he get any less involved in the game?
 
Watching his goals for Ajax, he does come across as a penalty box predator. More of a shadow striker than a playmaker.

We saw it on his debut as well vs Crystal palace.


He is consistently making runs and he ends up finding himself in positions that can seem to the eye that he is in the right place at the right time usually before the defence see him.

This is why I thought if Ole actually wanted him for the player he is - maybe we see him as a CAM/SS playing inbetween Rashford & Greenwood rather than Martial (this could be swapped with Bruno in between as a false 9 with VDB playing behind him which makes the shadow striker even more clinical).


I find it very hard to blame VDB for his performances - it's like Pep buying Fellaini and playing him instead of KDB rather than with him atleast.
 
How come people believe that VdB was forced onto Ole by the Board? Why on Earth would they spend a lot of money in a player who is not really needed during pandemic time? I am sure VdB has been purchased at Ole's request and thus Ole does need to bear responsibility for getting the most out of him. As Ole himself said previously no player can come into the team or leave it without his final say.

That will always be the narrative while he flatters to deceive.
 
He can settle until the we've all been washed away by rising sea levels, Donny van de Beek always does what he did in all his matches for United so far. He plays a short and riskfree pass to a team mate and runs towards the box. It has nothing to do with settling in. That's just what he does and all he does. It's what he did at Ajax too. He's not a classical 10, he's most definitely not a 6 or whatever a defensive midfielder is called, he just complemented Ajax'playstyle with Tadic as a false 9 who would drop deeper and switch positions with him. That's why he keeps getting in the way of Cavani / Martial / Rashford.

He's not a bad player (nor a very good player), he just has an extremely limited toolkit which is not suited for this level. I hope he can somehow add some more dimensions to his game, but the way he place does not have anything to do with him having to settle. it's like expecting Robben to stop cutting inside once he's settled in a bit. Not going to happen.
If he's intelligent enough as a footballer (which he clearly is), maybe he can reinvent himself in a new role. I can see him playing in a sort of Carrick/Xavi sort of role if he learns to discipline himself a bit better with regards to all the runs he makes. Not running around flying into tackles, but receiving the ball from defenders and making 100% sure the ball progresses. This was what he did and did extremely well against Leipzig when we won 5-0.
 
That's always been his playstyle. At Ajax he was a sort of bumper between De Jong and Tadic / Ziyech. De Jong plays it to him he bumps it to Ziyech, runs into the box gets it back and scores or taps it to someone else who scores. He will never be the one to play the incisive pass or dribble past a player. He works well in tandem with a ball retaining striker he likes to receive the ball with the back to the goal and link up with an oncoming Vd Beek. This type of play is obviously not suited to the way United are set up and you'd be crazy to tailor your team to Donny vd Beek as he's simply not that good.

Sometimes I really wonder how football scouts do their job.

Based on the media reports around the time he signed, which heavily indicated that Ole saw him playing as a #10 and being a goal threat, I think our scouting team knew what they were getting.

United were looking for an alternative to Bruno, not a clone. Someone who could not only rotate with Bruno but offer something different.

Van de Beek, at his best, would do that. If you are chasing a goal and you want to put on an additional attacking midfielder to get a goal for you, you'd pick Donny over Lingard or Pereira.

As you say, the problem is that Donny and United are not playing on the same wavelength. He isn't getting De Jong like passes into feet in the final third and he's not really gelling with our forwards. They all want to run themselves and get shots off. Apart from when Martial and Rashford play together, in which case they will play 1-2s but only with each other (a little oddly).

This leaves Donny looking lost. He takes up decent positions in forward areas but he ends up looking like he's dawdling in space, doing nothing.
 
If he's intelligent enough as a footballer (which he clearly is), maybe he can reinvent himself in a new role. I can see him playing in a sort of Carrick/Xavi sort of role if he learns to discipline himself a bit better with regards to all the runs he makes. Not running around flying into tackles, but receiving the ball from defenders and making 100% sure the ball progresses. This was what he did and did extremely well against Leipzig when we won 5-0.
He's a bright kid for sure, but you also need the physical talent to reinvent yourself. Louis van Gaal's teammates at Sparta famously said that Louis saw every opportunity for a brilliant pass, but his feet simply couldn't make it happen, because he was shit.
 


Look at him at his best and hes doing faints, zidane like dragbacks, backheels etc. Great first touch. Definitely not the player we are seeing at moment at utd. Definitely agree with posts above, selfish strikers at Utd arent helping him. Plus he may need a Pogba or a deeper CM who can play a penetrating forward pass to get the best out of his movement.
 
He's a bright kid for sure, but you also need the physical talent to reinvent yourself. Louis van Gaal's teammates at Sparta famously said that Louis saw every opportunity for a brilliant pass, but his feet simply couldn't make it happen, because he was shit.
Everyone's played with someone like that. It's so rare to see someone with the brains and the physique. Imagine Juan Mata's brain in Romelu Lukaku's body for instance! The closest person to Donny in possible playstyle is, ironically, Juan Mata but that seems to be a type of player that doesn't really get utilised anymore.
 
At Ajax he was never involved in the build up.. He was a very clean and neat player in the final phase of the field, where he was very aggressive and clinical (also in the small spaces) towards the goal. However the build up was fully handled by Frenkie, Daley (Lasse Schone to a lesser extent) and Ziyech higher up the field.

I dont get why anyone here claims he is or should be a playmaker? Thats not who you bought?

That would be like asking Poga to manmark Mbappe for 90 minutes
Which begs the question — why on earth did we sign him?
 
Everyone's played with someone like that. It's so rare to see someone with the brains and the physique. Imagine Juan Mata's brain in Romelu Lukaku's body for instance! The closest person to Donny in possible playstyle is, ironically, Juan Mata but that seems to be a type of player that doesn't really get utilised anymore.
Completely disagree. Juan Mata had dribbling ability and the technique for a pass in a way van De Beek never will. Maybe a less physical Aaron Ramsey is a closer comparison.
 
Glad he got more minutes yesterday but wasn't exactly a great performance.

The inability of Fred to pass the ball forwards was a big issue in this, everything he does it sideways or backwards...really want to see Donny get to play in a middle 3 with Bruno and McT.
 
I think a lot of it is to do with confidence. He's come from being a star onto the big stage, to find a team which is mentally shaky, and Bruno and Pogba dominating midfield. Ole needs to sit him down and tell him to play his natural game. Look how long Fred took to adapt. He also needs a string of games, with Pogba injured this might be his chance but he has to do better than last night.
 
He was purchased as he was a "bargain" at £40mil. A player who was due to sign for Real Madrid until Covid happened. Not for one moment do i think he was a Ole request. I think the club knew Pogba was going to leave, didnt want to be held to ransom when he did and bought DVB as a replacement. Not a direct replacement as they are different types of player but as a replacement for the longer term. Give him a season to settle in.

We have a transfer board, we ALL know this now.

He was clearly put forward by some members of the board and Ole chose to trust them rather than veto. That’s all.

Maybe he put Bruno forward, or maybe other members of the transfer board did? feck knows but I think it’s good there’s trust on that board, you’ll never be 100% right on signings.
 
Seems a nice guy but struggle to see the difference between him and the lad we let out on loan to West Ham, in that they both have clever moving, find good spaces in and around the box, run in behind, link play, etc.
 
I reckon against the weaker sides I'd like to see VdB play with McT or Fred in the midfield with Bruno in front. I think we would get better use out of VdB from a deeper position rather than further up the pitch.
 
I reckon against the weaker sides I'd like to see VdB play with McT or Fred in the midfield with Bruno in front. I think we would get better use out of VdB from a deeper position rather than further up the pitch.

I was just about to add that to my post.

I think with Pogba out, as you said, Ole might opt to go with VdB with one of Fred/McTominay again West Brom, as you'd imagine that'd be very much a game we're going to dominate.

Ole also did this against Istanbul (next to Fred) and Watford (next to McTominay).
 
We have a transfer board, we ALL know this now.

He was clearly put forward by some members of the board and Ole chose to trust them rather than veto. That’s all.

Maybe he put Bruno forward, or maybe other members of the transfer board did? feck knows but I think it’s good there’s trust on that board, you’ll never be 100% right on signings.
What are you on about? Clubs buying players that arent in the managers own list happens all the time. Most recently Villa Boas at Marseille. Lampard at Chelsea. Emery at Arsenal.

If woodward and matt judge along with the head of scouting thought DVB was too good an opportunity to pass up, they would have probably told Ole whats happening but would Ole really be able to say no? He wanted Haaland and Utd didnt do that transfer so he went to Dortmund. Mourinho had players on his list that he didnt get. Sometimes a manager doesnt agree with the scouting department targets.

Ole got Simon Wells (scout) to report to him directly at Utd. That in itself should tell you something.
 
I won't give up because Fred started slow but its highly unlikely he will be a "top" player for us as they usually show at least "something".

Maybe he is scared of the occasion because he seems a bit safe and shy? I don't know what type of player he is/wants to be.
 
What are you on about? Clubs buying players that arent in the managers own list happens all the time. Most recently Villa Boas at Marseille. Lampard at Chelsea. Emery at Arsenal.

If woodward and matt judge along with the head of scouting thought DVB was too good an opportunity to pass up, they would have probably told Ole whats happening but would Ole really be able to say no? He wanted Haaland and Utd didnt do that transfer so he went to Dortmund. Mourinho had players on his list that he didnt get. Sometimes a manager doesnt agree with the scouting department targets.

Ole got Simon Wells (scout) to report to him directly at Utd. That in itself should tell you something.

We know he has a veto man, stop chatting bollocks.

are we seriously going to start where we live in a fantasy world where any player who doesn’t start off really strongly or work out, must’ve been bought by the Ed & Judge, yet any great player like Bruno must’ve been bought by the manager?

Ole didn’t veto DvB, I wouldn’t have either, nor would 99% of this forum.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.