A broken promise and Solskjaer uncertainty - where Manchester United got it wrong with Donny van de Beek

It is two days before the end of the transfer window at the start of the 2021/22 season and Donny van de Beek's representatives have been told they can find him a club to join on loan.

Van de Beek was disappointed with how that season had started. He missed the European Championship due to injury, but came up with a plan with United to get back to fitness and missed just a week of pre-season training. There was particular frustration then that the midfielder had worked tirelessly at the club all summer, but was overlooked for Paul Pogba, despite the Frenchman turning up four days late for pre-season training.

By the final few days of the transfer window, Van de Beek had been an unused substitute for all three Premier League games. It was at this point he was told by executives he could find a new club to go and play first-team football.

What happened next sums up why a deal that had looked so promising when it was done in September 2020 has turned into a disappointment. With a season-long loan to Everton agreed, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer pulled the plug on deadline day despite not playing Van de Beek. Nobody was ever singing from the same hymn sheet when it came to getting the best out of the Dutch midfielder.

Solskjaer sent a message to Van de Beek's representatives at that point that he was "torn between letting him go and sticking with our belief it will come good." The day after the window closed, Solskjaer told them that he was "committed to showing staying at United was the right decision, both for the club and Donny."

He would start two of the next 14 games before Solskjaer was sacked, the Champions League defeat at Young Boys when he was taken off at half-time and the Carabao Cup defeat to West Ham. Not the