Van de Beek made his first Premier League start of the season in the embarrassing 3-1 loss at Villa Park on Sunday and while none of United’s players covered themselves in glory, it was the Dutchman who was the subject of much scrutiny.
The midfielder has badly struggled since his move to United from Ajax in 2020 and even a reunion with former manager Ten Hag hasn’t improved his fortunes.
Many believe that the time has come for the Red Devils to cut their losses with the 25-year-old but Ferdinand says that there is still a great player in Van de Beek but he just hasn’t been given the proper chance to prove it yet.
‘The manager knows him [Van de Beek], he knows what he has under his bonnet what he’s capable of,’ the United legend explained on the VIBE with FIVE podcast.
‘He has not got anywhere near doing that while he’s been at Manchester United or in England for that matter. I watched him probably four or five times live when he was in that Ajax team.
‘I know that was a few years ago now but in those games he was one of the three or four players who you thought there’s going to be value for this guy because of what he does.
‘You get him in and around the box and he can finish and the problem with the way he’s been deployed at United is he never gets into the box, he doesn’t get the opportunities to show off the best parts of his game.
‘He just hasn’t been able to find the rhythm, the momentum, the form at all in a Man United shirt and so the performance that we saw wasn’t any different to what we’ve seen so far with Manchester United. No impact.’
This is still very much a transitional year for United, as the Ten Hag era begins at Old Trafford and Ferdinand expects the manager to hand Van de Beek a few more starts in spite of the performances.
United are currently short of forward options due to injuries but thankfully for them they have just two fixtures remaining before the World Cup break, starting with another clash against Villa in the Carabao Cup on Thursday.
Ferdinand added: ‘I think you’ve got to give players a chance. He’s [Ten Hag] got to work out who he wants to keep in his squad.
He’s got to find out about these players, so if this week was the week to do it then so be it. We got beat but I don’t think the result is all down to Donny van de Beek.
‘But as we all know this is a cutthroat game. You’ve got to take your chances with both hands when they come cause you’re not going to get loads and unfortunately this week he didn’t take his chance. Now it’s up to the manager when he gets other chances.’
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