Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek has been slammed by Dutch legend Marco van Basten over his decision to move to Old Trafford.
Speaking in an interview, as relayed by the Mirror, Netherlands legend Marco van Basten has laid into Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek, claiming that the Dutchman is ‘not that good’.
A product of the AFC Ajax youth academy, van de Beek enjoyed a great couple of years with the Dutch club before he started to attract interest from some of the biggest clubs in the world. The 24-year-old eventually ended up signing for Manchester United last summer, while Real Madrid, too, have held a long-standing interest in him.
However, the move to Old Trafford has been a spectacular dud for van de Beek so far as he has struggled to break into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s plans. Indeed, the Netherlands international mostly featured off the bench in his debut season, despite having found the back of the net on his Premier League debut. And, the 2021/22 season has seen the 24-year-old not appear in a single game so far.
As a result, van de Beek has lost his place in the Netherlands national team. Now, Dutch legend, van Basten, has slammed the 24-year-old midfielder, claiming that he had it easy at Ajax.
“It just wasn’t smart choices. If you say you spoke to Real Madrid and then you go to Manchester United, you are betting way too high. Van de Beek is not that good. As number 10 at Ajax it is much easier than as number 10 in Spain or England. In the Netherlands you get a lot of help, you get opportunities, but that is not the case abroad,” he said.
This is not the first time that van Basten has lashed out at the Manchester United man, having been critical of him in the recent past during an interview with Soccernews.nl (h/t Mirror). “It just shows what a great life they have when they play at Ajax. They all think very quickly that they are a big boy here and can make it in other countries, but in the Netherlands, there is a nice competition.”
Van de Beek has not had it easy at Manchester United. So much so that the midfielder even considered leaving this past summer, as confirmed by his agent, only to be blocked by Solskjaer. It remains to be seen if the Dutchman sees any turnaround of fortunes with regard to his situation at Old Trafford in the coming weeks.