Everton can sign Donny van de Beek after Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United criticism
The chances of Everton signing on-loan Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek have increased after Louis van Gaal’s comments this week.
Ajax boss Erik ten Hag was thought to be a front-runner to replace Ralf Rangnik, which would surely have taken the Dutch midfielder back to his parent club with renewed purpose.
The 24-year-old has endured a nightmare at Old Trafford and the Manchester Evening News confirmed on Saturday that he “has wanted to permanently leave United for some time now” and would “get that opportunity in the coming months” unless ten Hag took over.
The move away from Manchester is seen to be vital to the player’s chances of featuring for his country at the 2022 World Cup.
Now the current Dutch manager, and former United boss, van Gaal has specifically advised his compatriot against following in his footsteps in the Premier League.
At his press Holland conference on Monday (27 March) he said, via The Times: “Erik ten Hag is a great coach and that is always good for Manchester United.
“But Manchester United are a commercial club, so it’s a difficult choice for a coach. He’d better go to a football club.”
Back on
Clearly the conditions have to be perfect for the former Ajax player to go back to his parent club where his career has badly stalled.
The manager whom he became a £40million player under taking the job would constitute virtually perfect conditions.
But van Gaal, for all he is infamously combative about everything, knows what it is like at that club.
And The Times report says that ten Hag “is understood to have offers on the table from a number of other clubs”, so any significant doubt put in his mind could send him elsewhere.
Indeed, the struggles Rangnik has had this season show that it was not simply a lack of tactical acumen from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer behind the problems at the club.
It is likely not lost on van de Beek how his national manager views his current club overall, which could be another factor in a move.
Frank Lampard showed a specific desire to bring the man who was on his way to Crystal Palace to Goodison Park.
While he has not been on fire for the Toffees, nobody has, but there has been enough to suggest he could be a useful addition, such as in the 3-0 win over Leeds.
The squad needs an overhaul, and unless he has disappointed behind the scenes Lampard is likely to be interested in keeping him on Merseyside.
In other Everton news, Alan Myers has cited various reasons why next year’s accounts won’t look good either after £120.9million loss news.
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