Rafael Benitez was never enamoured at the prospect of Donny van de Beek swapping Manchester United for Premier League rivals Everton late in the summer transfer window, as reported by The Athletic.
According to the Netherlands international’s agent, Cristiano Ronaldo’s headline-hogging homecoming was just another nail in his client’s coffin.
Ronaldo may not play in the same position as Van de Beek but, as Guido Albers explains, CR7’s Old Trafford return prompted a tactical reshuffle by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer that forced an already out-of-favour midfielder even further down the pecking order.
“Cristiano arrived on Friday, which we knew was bad news for us,” Albers said in September.
“(Paul) Pogba plays on the left and with Cristiano’s arrival it means another extra player in midfield, with Pogba moving away from the left.
“We took the initiative to find a club and our search ended up at Everton. We opened talks with (director of football) Marcel Brands and (majority shareholder) Farhad Moshiri.”
According to Albers, United pulled the plug on Van de Beek’s departure 24 hours before the transfer window closed on 1 September, deciding to retain the services of a player who had arrived in a £35 million deal from Ajax just 12 months previously.
Van de Beek, the agent says, deserves more than to be seen as a mere “Carabao Cup player”. The fact is, however, the 24-year-old has played the full 90 minutes just once this season, as Manchester United lost at home to West Ham in England’s secondary cup competition.
Would Van de Beek have been better off at Everton?
So would Van de Beek have been better off at Everton after all?
Not necessarily.
Brands admitted Van de Beek was “on our list” a few weeks ago but, according to The Athletic, his admiration for the Eredivisie winner wasn’t shared by the man who picks the team at Goodison Park.
Perhaps Benitez felt Van de Beek would have struggled to adapt to life in his hard-running, physical midfield.
James Rodriguez, a technically superior footballer, was allowed to leave because Everton didn’t have a place for an old-school number ten.
And if that’s Van de Beek’s most natural position too, it’s hard to imagine him finding life much easier on Merseyside.
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