In this day and age you have to be cautious not to rush to judgement and brand a player a flop, after just a few months.
Lisandro Martinez was dismissed by certain pundits after just two games, while Andre Onana received a barrel-load of criticism early this season, and is now coming good. Patience can pay off.
And then there are others, who after four seasons, are yet to convince. We are looking at Donny van de Beek.
In fact, in addition to being branded a United flop, he is now fast at risk of being labelled an Eintracht Frankfurt flop too.
Donny van de Beek at risk of hitting rock bottom in Germany
Donny van de Beek signed on loan with Eintracht Frankfurt at the start of the January transfer window and has struggled to get going.
Understandable immediately, perhaps, considering he started one competitive game in the 2023 calendar year, but by mid-March, you would have expected him to show signs of finding his groove.
Instead, it has been more of the same for Van de Beek, who is becoming more familiar with the Eintracht Frankfurt bench than their starting line-up.
He has made only six appearances in total, and in the team’s three matches in March, he has played only 18 minutes, losing his place in the starting XI.
The point of leaving Manchester United was to play, and to get a fresh start. If not to convince Frankfurt to buy him, then to increase his market value and get in the shop window. It’s not working out that way.
When was Donny van de Beek’s last international cap
When Manchester United signed Donny van de Beek in September 2020, the club was signing a player who was an established Netherlands international.
A lot of damage was done in Van de Beek’s first season, where he did not win over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and failed to earn a starting spot on anything like a regular basis. Many United fans felt the treatment was unfair.
Van de Beek was subsequently dropped by Netherlands, with manager at the time Louis van Gaal being quite strict that players had to feature regularly for their clubs to make it in.
His last appearance for his country is now almost exactly three years ago, on March 30, 2021, a win over Gibraltar in which he scored.
He missed out on the World Cup, and then injury and struggles for playing time has seen him fail to make any of Ronald Koeman’s squads. This latest snub is no surprise, yet it is another stark reminder of how he has dropped off.
It could have been different. There was a best case scenario where Van de Beek would have performed strongly at Eintracht Frankfurt, and made Manchester United look silly for casting him aside, and earned a recall for his country this March.
But then, even his former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag felt best to move him on. There was no favouritism, with the manager quite blunt about finding the midfielder to not be the same player he had at Ajax.
Everybody at this point would agree that Van de Beek needs to move on. Yet this was the consensus last summer, and in January. Finding a taker is not so easy, and United may be back to square one in summer 2024. His contract at United runs until June 2025.