Donny Van de Beek’s Manchester United future under Ralf Rangnick brighter than ever | OneFootball

The end of the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reign and the dawn of a new era under Ralf Rangnick will see a number of peripheral figures come back into the fold at Manchester United.

However, no one needed a fresh start quite as much as Donny Van de Beek, with Solskjaer making it abundantly clear he was not in his plans going forward.

After a frustrating debut campaign that saw the Dutch international start just 15 games, his second season has been even worse.

At the time of writing the 24-year-old has been given just three starts and has played a laughable 265 minutes in all competitions.

A summer move to Everton was almost wrapped up, only for Solskjaer to block the move and assure him he’d get more gametime.

This was not forthcoming, and it was perhaps poetic that the last goal under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was scored by the man he never manager to fully integrate into the starting 11.

It has been hard to think where Van de Beek will fit into the team at times, with Bruno Fernandes occupying the number 10 role and, when fit, Paul Pogba generally playing as part of the midfield pivot.

Many felt the Dutchman was brought in as a Pogba replacement, so when the Frenchman didn’t leave this created a logjam in United’s midfield.

“He was perfect for the system at Ajax, but I don’t think United and Donny are a good fit,” Rafael van der Vaart said in an interview with ESPN.

Now attention will turn to how he will fit into Rangnick’s system, and it could very well be a match made in heaven.

The German employs a counter-pressing philosophy that also revolves around players being fast in transition, something Van de Beek should have no trouble adapting to.

With Rangnick’s arrival and Pogba currently side-lined, Donny has the perfect opportunity to make inroads into the starting 11, and stay there, something United fans will be rejoicing about.