Donny van de Beek is one of the great mysteries of the post-Fergie era at Manchester United.
Brought in as a marquee signing in 2020, he failed to make an impression under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer then, when a fairytale redemption arc presented itself with the appointment of Erik ten Hag – who managed him onto the Ballon d’Or longlist during their time together at Ajax – he failed to make that work either.
Loan moves took him to Everton and Eintracht Frankfurt, but he made no impression at either club, and his departure on a permanent transfer to Girona last summer was notable only for the unusually low transfer fee – £500,000 is cheap for an academy prospect, much less a 27-year-old who has played for his country 19 times.
But when Girona beat Las Palmas 2-1 at the start of the month, with Van de Beek in the starting lineup for the 13th time in the league this season, a small but significant landmark was reached.
The Dutchman, who signed for the La Liga side in July, had equalled the number of appearances he made in his last three campaigns at United combined. He marked the occasion by picking up a booking.
He is now on 28 appearances and counting, scoring three goals and making two assists so far.
Seven of those appearances came in the Champions League, a competition his previous employers currently can only dream of.
Finally, nearly five years after making the switch which should have been the making of his career not the breaking of it, the player is back to, well, normal.
He is not tearing up trees in Spain, but neither is he a figure on the peripheries. The debate now is whether he will play the full 90 or be replaced with half an hour to go, not whether he will be on the bench or back at the hotel.
His average sofascore rating is a comfortingly average 6.83, approximately equidistant between Girona’s top and bottom performers.
Girona themselves sit tenth in a division of 20, and bowed out of the Champions League after picking up just one win in eight games.
Meanwhile United are rooted to the bottom half of the Premier League and in the depths of an injury and illness crisis which meant the bench in the 1-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur was warmed by one senior player and eight teenagers with no Premier League minutes between them.
The bizarre poetry of Van de Beek’s time at Old Trafford would suggest that even in these direst straits, for some reason he wouldn’t have been near the team.
He’s certainly not a player fans are baying to bring back, and is doubtless grateful that he can knuckle down in Girona and quietly get his career back on track.
Featured image Juan Manuel Serrano Arce via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
