Former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright has urged Donny van de Beek to leave Manchester United and put an end to his struggles.
Speaking on Optus Sport’s The Kelly and Wrighty Shown (h/t Liverpool Echo), former Arsenal centre-forward and club icon Ian Wright has called on struggling Manchester United midfielder to secure an exit from Old Trafford.
Van de Beek arrived at Manchester United in the summer of last year in a move that generated a lot of excitement. However, his time at the club has been a torrid experience as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has found it hard to integrate the Dutchman into his plans and as a result, he has been relegated to bench duties for the most part of his tenure at Old Trafford.
A summer exit was touted heavily for van de Beek, but Solskjaer blocked a late transfer to Everton, while promising more minutes to the midfielder. However, that has not materialised so far this term. And, now, ex-Arsenal icon Wright has claimed that the transfer was never going to work out and has then urged van de Beek to leave the club.
“The way that Ajax play with their possession football, the way he’s grown up in that Ajax academy, knowing how to make moves off of a team that are able to continue to hold the ball so he can make his moves. It’s totally different to how Man United would play. It’s baffling to me that he went to Man United because it’s not like they’re going to change the way they play for Donny van de Beek to play,” Wright said.
“The signing was wrong. At this stage, I’ve not seen him play three games on the spin for Man United. It’s gone wrong. He’s got to get out of there because it’s not going to work for him at Man United. He’s not going to get the opportunity to play and he should be playing because he’s a fantastic player.”
A lot of what Wright makes a lot of sense. Under Solskjaer, Manchester United do not really have a clear plan or ideology and seem to rely on individual brilliance or counterattacks to win games. Van de Beek, meanwhile, was developed at Ajax, where the Cruyffismo philosophy is ingrained in each player coming through the ranks.
Considering that Solskjaer has been extremely reluctant to hand the Dutchman minutes, an exit seems to be the best option, especially with the FIFA World Cup coming up next year.
