Reports in Spain suggest Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek is ready to snub Barcelona to join Manchester United.
Quoting Sky Sports, Fichajes.com claims the Dutchman has his heart set on a Premier League.
Donny van de Beek scored 10 goals and provided 11 assists in 37 games across all competitions last season.
This is a little surprise since Barcelona recently announced Ronald Koeman as their new manager. He coached Van de Beek for the Netherlands national side and knows he’d be a versatile addition being able to play as a playmaker, box-to-box or as a holding midfielder.
The report states: ‘In that sense, one of the players who has completely dazzled Koeman is Donny van de Beek, who seems to have made the decision to leave Ajax Amsterdam.
‘However, Sky Sports comments that the Netherlands International would prefer to try his luck away from Barcelona.
‘In fact, the cited source specifies that his wish would be to go to the Premier League, a competition in which he has had enormous interest from Manchester United.
‘Likewise, Real Madrid positioned themselves several months ago as an ideal option for Van de Beek, although his desire would be to go to the United Kingdom rather than to our league.’
It was reported back in June via The Times that United were preparing a £36m bid for the Ajax star, so there’s enough reason to believe Van de Beek is on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s watchlist.
No Premier League experience but potentially a lot cheaper than Jack Grealish.
That said, the gossip columns have not had a great deal of information on United trying to acquiring Van de Beek or Grealish in recent months. It’s been Jadon Sancho heavy for months without any signs a deal will happen for the Borussia Dortmund winger.
Barcelona are a side in transition at the moment — as are United! — but Koeman has a lot of work to do this year. It was a strange appointment if you ask me.
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