Did Donny van de Beek really tell his teammates he’s joining Man United? | OneFootball

Another piece of the Donny van de Beek to Man United transfer jigsaw fell into place this afternoon as Spanish outlet Sport reported that the Dutchman has told his Ajax teammates he will be joining the Red Devils this week.

This afternoon’s report follows a frenzied 24 hours of stories about the possible transfer that were sparked when Ajax’s head coach confirmed that the 23-year-old had been left out of the squad to face yesterday’s pre-season friendly against Eintracht Frankfurt due to transfer ‘developments’.

The Spanish outlet does not disclose its source but is very clear in its claim that Van de Beek is Old Trafford bound rather than joining FC Barcelona or Real Madrid, who have both also been linked with the midfield star.

‘Bad news keeps happening at FC Barcelona. In the midst of the maelstrom caused by Leo Messi’s decision to leave the club, Barça are seeing a player who was followed very closely move away definitively.

‘Van de Beek will sign for Manchester United.

‘This has been communicated by the same player to his teammates at Ajax. The Dutchman has already chosen the ‘Red Devils’ and will travel to Manchester next week to close the operation.

‘The only thing that prevented Barça from signing the Dutchman was the €55 million that Ajax was asking for his transfer and that is a figure that Barcelona, for the moment, could not reach.

‘The Catalan club expected to be able to lighten the squad a bit to try to incorporate the midfielder but, finally, United have got there ahead of them’.

It is common in transfer sagas for newspapers to run with ‘the player has told friends/teammates’ stories and often, but not always, they mean little.

The report’s credibility should also be suspected due to the claim that Ajax are demanding €55 million for the player, as the club themselves are on record saying they would accept less than that amount and transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has stated that the figure is more in the €40 million region.

Having said that, Van de Beek’s absence from the Ajax squad again today suggests that he is likely to be moving somewhere very soon and the article is very bold in its assertions, which usually means that the author at least clearly believes his sources are credible.