Donny van de Beek is ready to make another attempt to leave Manchester United in January after his Old Trafford career hit a new low in the Champions League win over Villarreal.
Van de Beek had to be consoled by Eric Bailly and Dean Henderson, when manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer decided to leave him on the bench and send on Jesse Lingard and Fred in the 89th minute of the Group F Champions League tie.
The furious Dutchman showed his frustration by taking a piece of chewing gum out of his mouth and hurling it into the technical area where Solskjaer and his assistant Mike Phelan were standing.
Regardless, Solskjaer’s decision paid off as Lingard played a part in Cristiano Ronaldo’s dramatic injury-time goal that awarded United a 2-1 win on Wednesday night.
However, despite the dramatic victory, this will come as little consolation to Van de Beek whose career has stagnated since he joined United from Ajax for £40million a year ago.
The 24-year-old was keen on a loan move to Everton after his representatives’ held talks with the Merseyside club this summer, but it was blocked by United on deadline day.
Now Van de Beek will renew his efforts to find another club in the January transfer window after seeing no improvement in his situation despite assurances from Solskjaer that he would play more.
The Dutchman has started just two games this season – in the Carabao Cup exit to West Ham and the Champions League defeat to Young Boys when he was replaced at half-time – and played five minutes in the Premier League as a substitute against Newcastle.
Meanwhile, Solskjaer insists Van de Beek has a future at United although the club could be tempted to recoup some of the money they paid for him to fund a new defensive midfield signing after spending £135.6m on Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane.