Leicester City interested in signing Manchester United midfielder Donny van de beek

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Leicester City are interested in signing Manchester United midfielder Donny van de beek, according to ESPN.

Red Devils manager Erik ten Hag confirmed in his pre-match press conference that the 25-year-old remains unavailable ahead of tomorrow night’s Europa League clash against Omonia Nicosia.

The Netherlands international hasn’t featured since his four-minute cameo off the bench against Liverpool towards the end of August.

United’s number 34 also came off the bench in the back-to-back defeats to start our Premier League campaign against Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford.

Leicester City interested in Donny van de Beek

Prior to his £35m move to Old Trafford two years ago, Van de Beek was one of the most coveted and highly sought-after midfielders across Europe.

But it says a lot about how far the Dutchman’s stock has fallen that the footballing world won’t butter an eyelid when former United manager Louis van Gaal doesn’t pick Van de Beek in the Netherlands World Cup squad.

It was hoped that a reunion with his former Ajax boss at the Theatre of Dreams would ignite Van de Beek’s stagnating career.

But following the arrivals of Christian Eriksen and Casemiro, it’s hard to see Van de Beek getting ahead of Scott McTominay and Fred in the midfield pecking order let alone ousting the Danish and Brazilian technicians.

Since making his big-money move to Manchester from Amsterdam, Van de Beek has made 53 appearances for the twenty-time league champions, 19 of which have been starts.

But only four of those starts have come in the Premier League.

According to WhoScored, Dan James still has more Premier League minutes (128) for Manchester United than Van de Beek (88) since the start of last season.

The Welshman joined Leeds from United on 31 August 2021 and has since moved to Fulham.

Van de Beek’s loan spell with Everton during the second half of last season was hampered by a thigh injury.

But his five Premier League starts under Toffees boss Frank Lampard is still more than he’s managed with the Reds.

Ten Hag has insisted that Van de Beek will get chances to impress when he is fit, but it’s hard to envisage how the 19-time Netherlands international can oust McTominay, Fred, Casemiro, Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes.

From 110 games under Ten Hag with Ajax, Van de Beek averaged over a direct goal involvement in every other game with 32 goals and 29 assists from 110 matches.

Brendan Rodgers’ beleaguered Leicester, who sit bottom of the Premier League table, are one of the sides interested in Van de Beek, reports ESPN.

And with Youri Tielemans’ contract at the King Power Stadium set to expire in June, the Foxes look resigned to having to eventually replace the talented Belgian.

Van de Beek has a contract at Old Trafford until 2025, with the option of another year, and while his stock and value has plummeted, the Reds would likely want to recoup a decent fee, having forked out £35m, if a permanent exit is sanctioned.

Van de Beek will be hoping to get his career back on track – the question is whether that’s possible under Ten Hag at the Theatre of Dreams, or whether he needs to move elsewhere.