Donny Van de Beek has been told he ‘must return to Ajax’ with the Manchester United loanee not part of the plans at the Premier League giants and struggling on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt.
If all else fails, then why no re-trace your roots in an attempt to recapture lightning in a bottle? That is the advice coming the way of Donny van de Beek as the Dutchman’s Bundesliga stint threatens to end with a familiar pang of regret.
Farmed out on loan to Eintracht Frankfurt after starting only six Premier League games in three-and-a-half years at Manchester United, the much-maligned midfielder’s impact has been minimal, to say the least.
He managed only five successful passes before being hauled off at half-time versus Mainz. Van de Beek then lasted only an hour in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to relegation threatened Bochum, introduced early on due to an injury to Hugo Larsson before departing the stage again before the full-time whistle.
Donny van de Beek urged to make Ajax return
With his latest attempt a rediscovering that Ajax spark seemingly fading already, a return to where it all began may be the last refuge for a man who set Man United back an eye-watering £34 million.
“After a probationary period of a month, he has almost been declared redundant. Again. He’s still only 26,” reporter John Graat writes in his column for Dutch publication Trouw.
“Something seems broken. Or has Van de Beek always been overrated? Just as many of the acclaimed Ajax side of 2019 turned out not to be good enough for the real top-level? He doesn’t seem to know how to do things anymore since Dusan Tadic is no longer around.
“Van de Beek, on a free transfer this summer, must return to Ajax.”
Manchester United’s sale hopes dented
Frankfurt signed Van de Beek on a short-term deal last month. Albeit with a £13 million option-to-buy clause in his contract. A clause which – according to one German football expert – looks likely to go ignored unless things change pretty quickly for a man who has already slipped out of Frankfurt’s starting XI.
“Donny Van de Beek (is playing) even worse than I ever even saw him in Manchester, to be honest. And that’s saying something isn’t it,” Matt Ford tells the Gegenpressing podcast.
“One particular moment sticks in my mind (against Mainz). He receives the ball in the centre circle in loads of space. But rather than turning and moving forward, he simply takes a touch plays the ball slowly back into defence. And the entire crowd moans. He gets dragged off at half time.
“(I was) speaking to someone close to Frankfurt,” Ford adds. “(The source) is already saying that Van de Beek had an awful lot of work to do to even consider staying at Frankfurt beyond the season.”
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