Why Lampard is the perfect mentor for Man Utd star at Everton
Stuart Hodge
- Updated: 29 Jan 2022 10:26 CST
- 9 min read
Donny van de Beek has been on the fringes for the entirety of his Manchester United career and now a former Chelsea hero could be the man to resurrect the career of the outcast Old Trafford star.
Frank Lampard has identified the Dutchman as the man he wants to provide the midfield spark for his Everton revolution – at least for the remainder of the season.
The Toffees are locked in a battle with Crystal Palace to secure a loan deal for van de Beek but it’s understood Manchester United are not interested in loan deals with an option to buy.
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That is a clear indicator that the Red Devils still believe in van de Beek’s long term potential and an attacking midfielder of his ilk could hardly have a better mentor that Lampard to give him the necessary guidance and pointers to make a success of things in the Premier League.
Lampard is arguably the best goalscoring midfielder in Premier League history and was also a creative force at the heart of some of the best-ever Chelsea teams.
Who better, then, for van de Beek to work under for the next six months?
Why Lampard could be perfect for van de Beek
As well as all of his personal exploits and success as a player and the benefits that passing on that experience could have for van de Beek, it’s worth remembering that, as a manager, Lampard has lots of experience with helping young players succeed at the top level. At Chelsea, he gave eight youth academy products their debuts and can be credited with helping to launch the careers of England internationals Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Reece James as well as Scotland star Billy Gilmour.
At 24, van de Beek is already an established international with 19 caps and three goals for the Netherlands, but he definitely has a point to prove in the Premier League having managed only 579 minutes of total game time in the league since joining United 18 months ago.
For both the player and his club, that is not a situation which can afford to continue and even since Ralf Rangnick came in, he is still not featuring enough. A loan spell is needed to ensure that he does not stagnate as a player.
With Everton and Palace fighting it out over his signature, United will be considering factors such as how likely he is to play regularly, the style of play of the respective teams and the characteristics of either manager that they could potentially work under.
To tick each of those off: he will likely play regularly at both clubs, given his quality, while Palace have played an attractive style under Patrick Vieira – and Lampard has previously implemented an attacking playing style at both Derby and Chelsea so will undoubtedly do the same at Everton. On the final point, Vieira was more of a midfield enforcer and is less experienced at managing top-level players while Lampard has dealt with superstars at Chelsea and was an attacking midfielder of a similar ilk to the Dutchman.
Based on the above, Everton should be the preferred choice for United.
Why van de Beek could be ideal for Everton
Often, people can have short memories in football, but if you rewind to Donny van de Beek’s time at Ajax, he was absolutely fantastic for the Amsterdam side.
The Ajax academy product scored 41 goals for the club and assisted on 34 goals in 175 games since making his debut in 2015.
Van de Beek also played a pivotal role as the attacking midfielder for Ajax in the 2018–19 season, starting almost every match in all competitions, as the team won their first league title in five years and made it all the way to UEFA Champions League semi-finals. He was also listed on the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon D’Or, such were his exploits in that memorable season.
He provides real quality and his combination of providing a goal threat with late runs into the box and playing intelligently between the lines, as well as having a good eye for a pass, could help elevate Everton’s attacking play massively.
They don’t have a midfielder of his quality in the squad, quite simply, and their impressive frontline which includes Richarlison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Demarai Gray, Salomon Rondon and talented youngster Anthony Gordon, could all profit from what the Dutchman can offer.
The marriage of Lampard and van de Beek, even if it’s only a short one, would appear to have huge benefits for the player himself, his parent club and the loan club along with its new manager.
