Following Donny Van de Beek’s loan move to Goodison Park, Rio Ferdinand has revealed what the Everton camp is saying about him.
After failing to break into the Manchester United first-team under both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick, the Netherlands international joined the Toffees on January transfer deadline day.
On Saturday, Van de Beek earned his first Premier League start for Frank Lampard against Leeds, helping the Toffees to their first win of the season. When Ferdinand asked ‘a few people’ in the Everton camp about Van de Beek’s arrival, they said he impressed them with his training standards, stating he had an immediate impact on the sessions’ quality. ‘I’ve spoken to a few individuals at the club, and they’ve stated he’s gone in there and raised the training levels,’ Ferdinand said.
‘First and foremost, [he’s] a great lad, but you can see. ‘Wow, he’s this talented, they must be unbelievable at Manchester United if he can’t get in,’ a lot of them think.
Van de Beek joined Manchester United from Ajax in the summer of 2020. Given that Solskjaer paid £35 million for his services, it was considered a high-profile deal. However, he was unable to establish himself as a regular starter for Manchester United, and instead found himself warming the bench on a regular basis.
Van de Beek only started four Premier League games during Solskjaer’s reign. When interim manager Rangnick arrived, things became even worse for the Dutchman, as he never started a game in the English Premier League.
Van de Beek’s exclusion from the squad, according to Jaap Stam, was due to the fact that he ‘couldn’t get his mind around the way Manchester United play.’
As a result, on the final day of the January transfer window, Van de Beek completed a loan move to Goodison Park.
In Lampard’s 4-4-2 system, he made his first Premier League start against Leeds United. On his entire debut, the Manchester United loanee shone, assisting on the opening goal in a 3-0 triumph.
‘I sort of expected it, because I knew Donny as a player from the outside, brought him here because of his talents in terms of he can play, his intelligence, his work ethic, incredibly intelligent and technical player,’ Lampard said of Van de Beek’s performance.
‘He was part of a really great work-ethic kind of performance, he matched the other players in that sense, he gave us a sense of calm, he linked the play, he looked confident on the ball, and that’s exactly what I brought him here to do,’ says the coach.
‘I think he can play a variety of roles,’ he continued, ‘which is why I moved so rapidly to try to get him when I came in.’
‘I’m a huge fan of his and believe he can play both roles for us – he played in the double six, or two midfielders, against Leeds, and I know he has the potential to link and get us through the lines with his passing, as well as the work ethic required in that position.’
‘I know he’s capable of more, and he’s also a goal danger.’ One of the main reasons I brought him in was because I knew he could offer different components to help us in different ways, and when he was called upon to play that type of disciplined role, I felt he did a fantastic job.’