Why Donny van de Beek chose Manchester United

A key tactical promise from Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer proved to be crucial when it came to the decision made by Donny van de Beek.

The Dutch youngster is reportedly set to complete a move to United from Ajax for a fee of around £40 million.

However an in-depth report from Dutch outlet AD reveals how it wasn’t a guarantee he would go to Old Trafford and reveals more how United completed the deal.

The report says that even though it was likely that Van de Beek would leave Ajax, especially after he was left out of the squad for a recent friendly, it was not a sure thing he would join United.

Their rivals Manchester City were also monitoring the midfielder’s situation as well as Tottenham Hotspur, PSG and Barcelona.

The article points out that United have, rather infamously, been made to look pretty foolish in their pursuit of high-profile transfers in the past.

However they also add that in this instance executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward managed to get the deal completed pretty quickly.

It took only around 24 hours after Van de Beek was left out of the squad for the Eintracht Frankfurt friendly for United to more or less wrap up the deal.

The other deciding factor, more in terms of Van de Beek’s personal decision, was a FaceTime call he had with United manager Solskjaer at the back end of last week.

Solskjaer reportedly told Van de Beek that he sees the Dutchman playing as a No. 10, something that the player loved.

Solskjaer did also say that he sees his prospective new player in a variety of midfield positions but the attacking midfield role sealed the deal for Van de Beek.