Donny van de Beek has blamed a major knee injury for his torrid Manchester United struggles. The midfielder, who departed Old Trafford during the summer, had just started to find form under Erik ten Hag when he suffered a knee problem in January 2023.
To much fanfare, Van de Beek was initially signed from Ajax for £35million in 2020. But he made only four starts during his first season and endured a number of setbacks.
There was an expectation that the arrival of his former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag would kickstart the Dutchman’s United career. However, a serious knee injury in January 2023 left him requiring surgery and spending the rest of the season on the sidelines.
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Van de Beek, who left United for Girona during the summer, told The Athletic: “I think it was quite unlucky because I played some more games, especially closer to the winter, and then I got injured. That was not easy. It was very bad timing.
“If you start to play a little bit more, then you can get the rhythm of everything. But that injury arrived, you need to restart again, you need to come up. There are new players coming in, and you start from the backseat again. It’s difficult.
“I would say this was a key moment for me at Manchester United. In this period normally when you play, you get stronger and better. But I got this injury. That was tough.”
He added: “If you don’t play for that long, then mentally it’s not easy. So then in January [2024], I decided to go to Eintracht Frankfurt [on loan], but it was not really working there either. It’s not easy to come halfway into the season when you have no competitive rhythm because you did not play many games, and then you need to perform straight in.”
Van de Beek also felt that the managerial change from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to Ralf Rangick in 2021 caused a ‘chaotic’ and unstable situation.
He continued: “Normally in the second season, everything gets better for a lot of players. But I think it was also a difficult situation. I think the coach left (Ole Gunnar Solskjaer), and a new coach came in (Ralf Rangnick) and then it’s always chaotic. You know it’s not in a stable situation. I went to Everton [on loan] because of that.”
