Donny van de Beek‘s former agent Guido Albers has given an interview in the Netherlands hitting out at the way he has been treated at Manchester United.
Van de Beek signed for United in 2020 and has only been selected to start four Premier League matches for the club since joining.
Albers was Van de Beek’s agent when he signed for United, before he switched to join Ali Dursun’s stable of Dutch clients which includes Tyrell Malacia.
Speaking to Voetbal Primeur, Albers says Van de Beek has not had a fair opportunity and has been victim of squad politics, with bigger names preferred even when they did not earn it, during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s spell as manager.
- POWER RANKINGS 1-10: Manchester United’s best players this season so far
Van de Beek’s former agent hits out
Albers said: “I saw the disappointment with the way he has been treated by Manchester United and he has seen up close what I did to turn the situation around.
“In the Netherlands, Donny received all the appreciation, he performed well and he was super popular with the fans. He never played at Manchester United. The relationship between him and the club really cooled down
“Politics and interests also play a role there. He had to compete with Paul Pogba. He [Pogba] reported to the training camp too late [in March 2021], said sorry and was allowed to play again – in the place of a boy who trained ten hours a day for eight weeks to show that he was good enough.”
The issue of squad favoritism blighted Solskjaer’s spell as manager in the final few months, with Eric Bailly reported to have challenged him over his consistent selection of Harry Maguire, The Telegraph reported. Diogo Dalot is another player who did not get opportunities under the Norwegian.
Albers added that he is still in touch with Van de Beek, who has not yet broken through under new boss Erik ten Hag, who managed him at Ajax.
He said: “I underestimated what not playing anymore has done to him mentally. I should have looked earlier: how can I help him.”
Van de Beek ‘low in confidence’
Mental struggles has previously been attributed to Van de Beek’s slow start under Ten Hag. The Sun reported in August that the new manager was surprised by the midfielder’s ‘low confidence’ compared with the player he knew at Ajax.
This is why he wasn’t thrown straight in, as many expected he may be under Ten Hag, and the midfielder has since been out with an injury which kept him out of both Europa League games.
Injuries also affected his loan at Everton last season, and Van de Beek’s hopes of making the Netherlands World Cup squad appear to be gone, at this point, failing to make any of Louis van Gaal’s squads over the past 12 months.
There could still be a role for Van de Beek when fully fit, although few see him as an automatic starter at United, until he can prove otherwise.
Under Erik ten Hag there certainly won’t be any squad politics which prevents him from playing. He isn’t being given any automatic advantages from his previous work with the manager either – but he has to earn his place.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
