How van de Beek can Revitalise his Career at Crystal Palace

Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek looks as though he could be on his way to Selhurst Park to join Crystal Palace on loan until the end of the season following a miserable spell on the sidelines at Old Trafford.

The 24-year-old was the first of United’s summer signings in the summer of 2020 and looked as though he could be a real hit at the Red Devils when he scored on his debut in a 3-1 loss to the Eagles in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sides opening league match of that campaign.

Since then, the former Ajax academy graduate has played 49 more times, scoring one more and creating two assists, however, his appearance figure is heavily masked by the sheer amount of substitute appearances that the Netherlands international has made, having played 1,836 minutes worth of first-team football, averaging at just short of 37 minutes per appearance.

Many criticised Solskjaer for underusing van de Beek prior to the former Molde man’s sacking and ironically, the Dutchman led the charge to save the Norwegian’s job in their 4-1 defeat to relegation battling Watford in late November, scoring the goal that got the Red Devils back into the match at 2-1.

Fans of the Old Trafford club believed that the 24-year-old’s contribution at Vicarage Road would see him earn regular first-team action, but, bemusingly since then, van de Beek has played nine minutes worth of league football under previous Caretaker Manager Michael Carrick and current Interim Manager Ralf Rangnick.

It looks likely that van de Beek will leave Old Trafford on loan in the January Transfer Window, which would be beneficial for the Netherlands international as there is ultimately no benefit in not playing, especially at the age of 24.

A loan move without an option or obligation to buy is realistically United’s best move, as van de Beek could still play an important future role at United if they are to balance their side out with an orthodox defensive midfielder in their 4-3-3 system.

After all, it was only in 2019 when van de Beek played a key role in Ajax’s midfield as they took the Champions League by storm and reached the semi-finals, of which the United man scored the only goal of the game in his side’s 1-0 win away at Tottenham in the first-leg at this stage of the competition.

It is well known that both Mauricio Pochettino and Erik ten Hag are big admirers of the midfielder, as the former was reportedly desperate to sign him for Spurs, whilst the latter got the best out of him when managing him at Ajax. These two managers are the favourites to take over United at the end of the season once Rangnick’s interim reign is up and will likely want the Dutchman to stay.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is fastly approaching and having failed to appear at Euro 2020 due to injury, van de Beek will be determined to appear at his first major international tournament for his national side. To do this, he will need to play club football, as former United manager Louis van Gaal has already stated, that whilst he is not playing regularly, he will not be selected for the Dutch national side.

Van de Beek’s last appearance for the Netherlands was under Frank De Boer in late March 2021 and with the World Cup taking place in the winter, this will realistically be his last chance to make a loan move away from United with enough time to stamp his mark and earn a place in the team in time for the World Cup.

There are two players that come to mind that van de Beek can take inspiration from, firstly, fellow United teammate Jesse Lingard.

The 29-year-old had a sensational loan spell at West Ham United last campaign where he scored nine goals and created five assists in 16 games under David Moyes’ management. This spell looked to have rejuvenated Lingard’s career, before he naively decided to stay at United last summer, with the club having several high-quality options in each position that he can play in.

If van de Beek was to impress in a similar fashion to Lingard, then he wouldn’t have the same issues with United’s central midfield position, as Paul Pogba, Nemanja, Matic, Juan Mata and Lingard all have deals that expire in the summer, meaning that space will likely be made available for the Dutch playmaker to flourish.

Another player for the Netherlands international to look at is Palace midfielder Conor Gallagher who is on loan at the Eagles from Chelsea. The 21-year-old has one and a half seasons of Premier League football under his belt having also played at West Brom last season and plays in a similar role to the United man.

Although Gallagher hasn’t featured on a European stage, he has played regularly in England’s top-flight and is even the Eagles top scorer this season, with seven goals and four assists in 21 matches. Van de Beek could see a player who has been progressing along his career path at a quick rate of knots, whilst his own has been staggered by his move to United, and ultimately, could raise his game to impress.

Former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira is the manager of the Selhurst Park club, and the Frenchman could perhaps teach van de Beek a few tricks of the trade on how to become an established midfielder at a club like United; having won 10 honours under Arsene Wenger at Highbury. The 45-year-old previously had similar struggles to van de Beek’s when he played at AC Milan, making just two first-team appearances for San Siro club in the 1995/96 season and could be a great mentor for the ex-Ajax man.