Donny van de Beek may have just allowed another Manchester United opportunity to pass him by

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Donny van de Beek‘s 2022 has truly been one to forget. It was a year which has offered so much hope for him, and he has been unable to take each and every chance for a fresh start.

Van de Beek hoped interim boss Ralf Rangnick would give him a chance. It didn’t happen, and he was sent out on loan to Everton.

His stint at Goodison Park fell flat due to injury. Then came the best possible news, Manchester United appointed his former Ajax boss, Erik ten Hag.

Except the midfielder has fared no better under Ten Hag either. A combination of injuries and poor displays saw Van de Beek become a non-factor over the first few months of the season, and making the Dutch World Cup squad was never in play.

He would have hoped then, that an opportunity on United’s winter training camp in Spain could set him back on track.

Van de Beek may have allowed another chance to pass him by

Van de Beek may have trained well behind the scenes in Spain, but on the pitch, he was unable to make any impact and suffered another setback.

He played 45 minutes against Cadiz with the rest of the first team, and struggled to get into the game. It was a typical Van de Beek performance, where he ran around a lot, without seeing much of the ball, or being able to do anything with it, when he did get it.

It got worse against Real Betis, when he was named in the line-up, and then pulled out of it five minutes before kick-off, replaced with Isak Hansen-Aaroen.

He did not come on in the second half, suggesting his absence was another fitness issue.

Even if it is not a serious enough injury to cost him any game time, and there is no information on it, more damaging was missing out on being able to play against Betis.

Van de Beek needed these minutes, to build up his fitness, and missed out. It’s the story of his year, one missed opportunity after another.

Now with Christian Eriksen returning to individual training at Carrington, there is a strong chance Van de Beek does not make the starting line-up against Burnley on December 21.

United paid £35 million for Van de Beek in 2020 but are yet to see any kind of return on the investment. A tough decision to part ways could be upcoming in January.