🌡 Hot Take: Signing Donny van de Beek could cost Solskjaer his job | OneFootball

Let’s get one thing out of the way: Donny van de Beek is an excellent footballer.

Though maybe not as technically gifted as ex-team-mate Frenkie de Jong, the Manchester United new boy has an innate understanding of the game. Few midfielders in Europe can be found in the right place, at the right time, quite so regularly.

And in isolation, that makes him an excellent signing for Manchester United.

Van de Beek has proven his value at Ajax, combining smartly deeper before getting on the end of moves after ghosting into the area. He also presses very intelligently. But he isn’t much of a dribbler and he isn’t the man you want marshalling midfield to win back possession.

The 23-year-old only fits in one position naturally. And that position is occupied by Bruno Fernandes.

After the Portuguese arrived at Old Trafford in January, things began to click.

His high risk, high reward style led to goals, it led to assists, it led to chances. Fernandes’ relatively low pass completion (75.7% in the Premier League) was the lowest of every outfield United player last season.

And that’s fine. It has everything to do with his style and it works if the players behind him are working to clean up the passes that don’t reach their target.

But if too many players are taking those risks, you have a problem. Van de Beek’s Eredivisie pass completion (82.2%) was the lowest of any Ajax midfielder in 2019/20. That was an improvement on the 79.5% he posted the season before.

Last season, it was even lower than that (78.8%) in the Champions League and lower still (72.2%) across two Europa League games.

One high risk, high reward midfielder in Fernandes is something. Another in Paul Pogba, who looks to launch the game into the final third regularly, works out just fine.

And it’s all great news when those passes find a front three and a dedicated defensive midfielder is sweeping up behind that front five.

But reports this week suggested Solskjaer wants to play Van de Beek with Fernandes and Pogba. Now that’s just a step too far.

It would probably lead to plenty of goals but it would leave United wide open on the break and see them turn the ball over continuously. Whoever you drop deeper – Van de Beek or Fernandes – to play alongside Pogba will unbalance the midfield enormously.

It may sound spectacular but Solskjaer has to resist the urge to play all three of his offensive-minded midfielders and learn to rotate, using just two of Pogba, Fernandes and Van de Beek at a time.

As unglamorous as it is, this Manchester United side need a Fred, a McTominay, a Matić at the base of the midfield.

Without that, they risk missing out on the top four in 2020/21 and a slip back to the Europa League, after making pleasing progress in 2020, would surely see Solskjaer scrambling to save his job. Especially with Mauricio Pochettino still unemployed.

It’s worth repeating that Van de Beek is a superb player, but for this Manchester United? They’d have been better off signing someone who can provide depth up front and on the flanks.