Was Donny van de Beek a pointless signing?

When splashing out roughly £35.7 million on a player, you probably would expect them to have been given a bit more than 249 league minutes after about half a season of football.

But with Donny van de Beek at Manchester United, this has not been the case as opportunities for the young Dutchman have been limited.

It begs the question, was this another poor bit of business in the transfer market from United?

Firstly, it is important to establish that Van de Beek is an excellent player. He was an integral part of the wonderful Ajax side that reached the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2019, and has continued to showcase his superb ability with Ajax and featured internationally for the Netherlands.

But just because a player is very good does not mean that they are necessarily a smart signing. In this case with Van de Beek, the issue is that United already have a top performer in his favoured No10 position with Bruno Fernandes.

The Portuguese has made himself virtually undroppable, to the extent where it wouldn't be wholly untrue to say that when he has an off day, the entire team has an off day.

And this isn’t something that suddenly became apparent only after the signing of Van de Beek. The arrival and form of Fernandes helped fire United to a Champions League place and some excellent form post-lockdown at the end of the 2019/20 season.

Obviously, having some good backup in Fernandes’s position is important. But to spend a large sum on an such an exciting player to essentially fill the bench behind Fernandes does not seem like a particularly thoughtful move. It comes across as more of a scattergun magpie-like approach to grab the best shiny thing.

In fairness, it can be a fine line in these situations. Should Fernandes have experienced significant dips in form or a long term injury and Van de Beek been given an extended run in the side to excel, then it would probably have seemed like quite a good transfer.

But that has not been the case, and instead an excellent young talent festers on the bench without a clear role in the side.

Fernandes maintains the No10 role, Paul Pogba is first choice as a creator from deeper in midfield and Van de Beek does not really fill the attritional briefs of Fred, Scott McTominay and Nemanja Matic.

It brings into the question the smartness of United’s squad building. You do obviously want top players competing for positions all over the pitch, but to sign a young player of such high calibre for a large fee to sit on the bench seems like a poor way to spend money, and a recipe for discontent.

Like most players, Van de Beek will keep publicly quiet about the matter but many of his countrymen have questioned the move, including Rafael van der Vaart and Bayer Leverkusen manager Peter Bosz.

Even club legend Edwin van der Sar chipped in with a letter upon Van de Beek’s arrival asking United to “take good care” of the former Ajax star.

But things seem to be falling by the wayside as we enter the midpoint of the season, with little sign of Van de Beek being given much of a chance after his brief cameo at the end of United’s Carabao Cup semi-final against Manchester City in midweek.

The Red Devils face Watford on Saturday, and it could well offer an opportunity for Van de Beek to impress against Championship opposition with Fernandes looking somewhat jaded against City earlier in the week.

But it will be difficult for the Dutchman to continually break into the side as his long term future in Manchester is called into question.