“What am I doing?”: Ex-United star opens up on disastrous loan spell that “drove him crazy”

Former Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek has opened up on his difficult loan spell in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt earlier this year.

Van de Beek joined United in 2020 from Ajax but was loaned out to Everton and Eintracht Frankfurt after struggling to make an impact in England.

He found minutes hard to come by under both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik ten Hag, with the latter sanctioning a permanent sale to La Liga outfit Girona in the summer.

Van de Beek has somewhat rediscovered himself at Girona and seems to be enjoying his football once again.

He has made 20 appearances for the side across all competitions, scoring three goals and assisting twice in the process.

The 27-year-old spoke to Voetbal Primeur [via Sport Witness] and admitted that his brief period in the Bundesliga especially was a difficult one.

At Frankfurt, Van de Beek managed just eight appearances and 357 minutes in total.

The Netherlands international said, “I came from so far away, needed rhythm and a series of matches, but that was simply not possible.”

“The result was that I started to drive myself crazy. I had to show what I could do in a match, which meant I went way too much. doing, and passed myself by.”

“In addition, my home situation was anything but pleasant. Estelle was heavily pregnant, and we decided that she would stay in England for the birth. My daughter together with her.”

“She in Manchester, I in Germany. I was there on my own in Frankfurt. My family in England, things weren’t going well with football.”

Van de Beek added, “I thought During that period sometimes really: What am I doing?”

“If you play so little, you also lose confidence. That starts to eat away at you, and that’s not good as a player.”

Meanwhile, United return to Premier League action on Sunday when they host Bournemouth at Old Trafford.

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