Rijo Sam Daniel
Ralf Rangnick blames competition at Manchester United for Donny van de Beek’s plight
Ralf Rangnick has blamed heavy competition in midfield as a reason for Donny van de Beek‘s lack of minutes at Manchester United. The latter has been allowed to leave on loan to Everton for the rest of the season as a result of this situation. He will rejoin the parent club at the end of this campaign.
Van de Beek made five appearances under the 63-year-old boss, but the minutes amounted to only 115 in total. That is hardly enough game time for any player to make a case for himself at a club, which goes to show what the former was going through. It was baffling to see him treated like that, considering how we paid £35million to Ajax for his signature.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference (h/t Manchester Evening News), Rangnick revealed that the competition in midfield is the reason for the Dutchman’s lack of minutes. He stated that other players deserved to get the nod ahead of him but mentioned that the lack of game time does not question his quality in the slightest.
“In the end, it’s a question of competition. Like Paul Pogba, I see him in the centre of midfield as one of the 6 or 8 positions and we have quite a few other good players in those positions, therefore he didn’t get much game-time but that doesn’t mean he’s not good enough for the Premier League or Manchester United.”
Questionable words
One look at the context could raise question marks if ‘competition’ has been the reason why the 24-year-old failed to garner game time. Most talented players do not struggle for minutes to this extent if the manager really appreciates their abilities.
Paul Pogba was out on the sidelines for quite a long time whereas Jesse Lingard has been on the fringes of first-team action. That leaves Bruno Fernandes, Nemanja Matic, Fred and Scott McTominay as the only available options, with the Serbian’s ageing body rendering him a shadow of his former self at times.
But with van de Beek now at Everton, playing under a legendary midfielder in Frank Lampard, we could hope to see the Dutchman strut his stuff in England once again. With the FIFA World Cup in Qatar not far away, the player would also be hoping to win back his spot in the Oranje’s national team set-up.
It is common knowledge that when Ralf Rangnick took over, he took charge of things as an interim manager. So, if the club does bring in a new permanent boss in the future, and granted van de Beek is with us by that time, then it remains to be seen if he finally finds favour at Old Trafford.
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His treatment under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Rangnick has been baffling to say the least and two manager’s would certainly have fingers pointed at them for it if van de Beek goes on to have a solid spell at Goodison Park this season.
