Sight of Donny van de Beek sat on the bench even more perplexing after Manchester United's...

[ASFN Admin]

Walking across the largely vacant car park at Old Trafford after an entirely forgettable goalless draw with Chelsea, a group of reporters encountered a fresh-faced, blond-haired youngster climbing into a muscular-looking four by four. As he nodded and said hello, it took a moment to register who the forlorn-looking young chap was. It was Donny van de Beek, the forgotten man at Manchester United. After yet another game in which he was no more than an interested observer, one of the press box wags suggested he increasingly carried the look of a schoolboy who had won a competition to sit on the United bench. In Holland, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s only occasional use of the former Ajax playmaker is fomenting growing dismay. A national treasure being so sparsely used is seen as nothing less than a snub. “What was he signed for?” Danny Blind, the former Holland manager, raged after watching him again unemployed against Chelsea. “I listened to Solskjaer’s press conference and he had nothing but praise for Donny. Yet, he did not even give him a brief cameo. He bought him to beef up the squad. Why not use that depth?” It is an intriguing question. One that had all the more pertinence given that Van de Beek’s drive and urgency are precisely the kind of qualities that might have made a difference in this turgid draw, a result that extended United’s inability to win at home to three games, their worst opening sequence since 1972.

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