Manchester Midfield Reinforcements
Where Manchester United's new signing, Donny van de Beek will slot in at Old Trafford.
picture via goal.com
Manchester United have signed Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek for a fee of around 50 million dollars. The Dutchman was influential to Ajax’s past two successful seasons, including their near reach to the Champions League final back in 2019. This season van de Beek has scored ten goals and assisted six as well as maintaining an 82% pass completion rate. Nevertheless, in today’s post, I am going to go through how the 23-year-old will perfectly fit into Ole Gunnar Solskjear’s lineup.
Manchester United have gone through many formations over the years following Sir Alex Ferguson’s exit from the club in 2013. Now, with Ole in the driving seat, it seems the most success that United has is when they come out in a 4-2-3-1. As seen during the project restart, the only real hole that United face in their squad, outside of the goalkeeper position, is that second defensive midfield position currently occupied by one of Fred, Nemanja Matic, or Scott McTominay.
Saying that those three players did not have a good season in 2019/2020 would not be right. Fred, without a doubt, was the most improved player on the entire United roster. However, Fred and McTominay both would play better as backups to Pogba and Fernandes, with a stronger starting option lining up beside the Frenchman. With that said, van de Beek slotting in at the second starting six role would not only allow smoother rotation of players, but it would also let Pogba play more forward with the ball, which is his natural style of play.
We saw in January how an influx of midfield talent could transform Manchester United with Bruno Fernandes. With Donny van de Beek, it will be no different. Having a young, solid defensive mid that the entire team can rely on will allow United to open up play with even more intensity and creativity. It is a pleasant sight to see the Red Devils making beneficial big-name signings, especially as a United supporter. With the season starting in just ten days, we will see how well van de Beek fits into this Manchester United side. Thanks for reading.