Ultimately, this is not all Van de Beek&aposs fault. His severe knee injury in January put the nail in the head of any arrival under Erik ten Hag but even before that, the Dutch coach, like his predecessors, did not see a place for him in the team.
Arguably the competition in United&aposs midfield is stronger than ever. Besides Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen who started at Arsenal, the Reds can rely on Sofyan Amrabat, Mason Mount, Kobbie Mainoo and Scott McTominay to fill any gaps over the course of the season, while the likes of Hannibal Mejbri and Dan Gore will harbour hopes of breaking into the first-team this season.
For a team that is struggling with an injury crisis, United are surprisingly flushed with central midfield options. With this in mind, Van de Beek&aposs future should have been sorted a lot sooner.
Granted, Amrabat joined on deadline day but it was already apparent from pre-season the 26-year-old would not be a starter this year. At this stage, United should have been doing all they could to get him off the books.
The ideal solution would have been to sell Van de Beek permanently as his career at Old Trafford is dead in the water but perhaps a loan switch would have sufficed. Either way, as soon as the window shut last Friday, United severely hindered their chances of parting ways with their man.
The Turkish Super Lig is United&aposs last chance to get a move sorted but this whole saga is indicative of a lack of planning. The Reds saw with Harry Maguire how difficult it is to get players to depart so to leave Van de Beek&aposs switch to the last minute was an error.
