Erik ten Hag to offer Donny van de Beek Manchester United revival

Karan Tejwani

• Updated: 28 Apr 2022 14:13 BST
• 3 min read

The news of Erik ten Hag’s arrival at Manchester United may have come as a source of joy for Donny van de Beek, who has endured a tough time since joining the club in the summer of 2020.

Van de Beek has barely played for the Old Trafford club since signing and has spent the second half of this season on loan at Everton, where he has been embroiled in a relegation battle.

Over the last few months, there have been plenty of rumours of Van de Beek’s desire to leave the club and resurrect his career, but the news of Ten Hag’s arrival changed that tone, and it’s now believed he is looking forward to the future under his former coach.

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What can Van de Beek acheive under Ten Hag?

According to The Telegraph, Ten Hag plans to give Van de Beek a chance to prove himself in the club’s pre-season tour, where they will be travelling to Asia and Australia.

Ten Hag and Van de Beek worked together when they were at Ajax between 2017 and 2020, and the midfielder was crucial in Amsterdam side’s Champions League run of 2018-19 when they reached the semi-finals.

Van de Beek even scored some important goals in that run, netting against Juventus in the successful quarter-final and later in the semi-final defeat against Tottenham.

The two share a positive relationship, but it hasn’t always been that way.

At the start of the 2018/19 season, Ten Hag often benched Van de Beek, and there were stories going that the player leaked stories about the coach to the media, but those were debunked by the club.

Since then, their connection has flourished, and Ten Hag even said it came as a surprise to him that Van de Beek wasn’t playing much for Manchester United when he first made the move to England.

Now, though, Van de Beek will see this as a chance to revive his career, having seen minutes limited under former boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and Ralf Rangnick deciding it was best to spend time away on loan.

The Dutchman is still only 25-years-old and has plenty to offer, and a lot of his Old Trafford career may depend on players brought around him to help him flourish.

He’s been out of the Dutch national team squad for a while, so getting back before the World Cup will also be one of his motives.

How Ten Hag manages his former player’s future will be interesting to see in the coming season.