As Manchester United continue to flounder, Donny van de Beek has been praised for his “tremendous” performance after making his first Everton start.
After coming off the bench on the hour mark in the 3-1 defeat at Newcastle on Tuesday, Frank Lampard handed the 24-year-old his home debut for the Toffees, in yesterday’s 3-0 win against Leeds.
Playing in front of the Goodison Park faithful for the first time, the Dutch international produced a timely reminder of the array of qualities he possesses.
Lining up in a midfield two alongside Brazilian Allan, van de Beek looked confident and eager to impress.
Making his first Premier League start since the final day of last season, the former Ajax man wasn’t playing with the shackles he seemingly had attached to him, since joining the Red Devils.
Given a new lease of life and with his self-belief seemingly restored, Everton’s number 30 produced an energetic and all-round midfield display that fans hadn’t seen since moving to England.
His performance was lauded by BBC pundit Danny Murphy.
Speaking on Match of the Day, Murphy said: “I thought van de Beek was tremendous, sat in the middle with Allan and kept things simple and ticking over.”
Jermaine Jenas labelled the Dutchman’s performance as “brilliant” and called on Lampard to keep van de Beek in the team.
The 38-year-old said: “He [van de Beek] has to stay in the team.”
Match of the Day host Gary Lineker couldn’t resist making a jibe to Manchester United following the analysis of our 1-1 draw against Southampton by mentioning our number 34.
Lineker said: “Maybe they need someone like van de Beek in midfield.”
With Everton travelling to Southampton on Saturday, Donny van de Beek will be hoping to start back-to-back Premier League matches for just the second time in his career.
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