Manchester United are close to completing the signing of Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek after a bid of £35.7 million (€40 million) plus add-ons has been agreed, according to reports by Ed Aarons and Fabrizio Romano in the Guardian. The player will conclude his transfer in the coming week and ben announced as a United player. Real Madrid and Barcelona were said to be interested in the Netherlands international this summer. Earlier on Sunday, it was reported that the player had told his friends about the transfer.
United seem to have done a lot of the legwork in this deal earlier this year, despite it not looking like that at the moment in time with the transfer window having been open for a month and nothing of note happening. United have been known to be slow in signing players and will need to ensure they quicken the pace in the future. Van de Beek has been linked to the club for a while now which seems to be coming to a close with a successful signing seemingly taking place.
The Mirror have reported that Tottenham Hotspur attempted to make an eleventh hour deal to sign the Dutch international this summer but United pushed through with their chief negotiator Matt Judge sealing the agreement and Spurs missing out on another target to United – the last being Bruno Fernandes, who Spurs were heavily linked with last summer, as well as United and earlier this year before the Portuguese midfielder eventually signed for United.
During the 2019/20 season, Van de Beek made a total of 37 appearances for Ajax, playing in the Eredivisie, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, the TOTO KNVB Beker, and the Johan Cruijff Schaal. He scored 10 goals and 11 assists during the course of the season, playing in his last game of the season, a 3-1 victory over Heerenveen before the coronavirus pandemic suspended world football with the Eredivisie being cancelled with no team winning the league for the season.
Van de Beek can play as an attacking midfielder and in the central midfield position, which will give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer some options ahead of the 2020/21 season, which could well be a good one for United, especially if they manager to sign a winger and a central defender, as a minimum. United will always be linked to different players, which is great for the club but the majority will either be clubs and agents using United or journalists creating stories based on nothing, which could end with sufficient clicks to website, other clubs signing the player then another story showing how United missed out, which has been common in the past eight years or so.
Prior to this deal being reached, the 23-year-old was removed from the Ajax squad ahead of a friendly with German side Eintracht Frankfurt, which Ajax won 2-1 and a 2-2 draw against Union Berlin on Sunday. Ajax manager, Eric Ten Hag, reported by the Guardian, stated:
“There are indeed developments that keep him out of the selection. We will see what happens. We’ll make an announcement as soon as there’s some clarity.
“The fact that Donny did not play does indicate a direction. The request not to let him play did not come specifically from one side. We do that together.
“Agreements have been made about a possible transfer, and if that possibility arises you must also cooperate.”
Written by John Walker
