Jose Mourinho failed in attempt to sign Man Utd midfielder last summer – report

Donny van de Beek joined Manchester United from Ajax in 2020 but has failed to cement himself into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team, having only made four starts in the Premier League since making the move over a year ago.

The Dutchman’s misery has been compounded further after he was dropped from the last two Netherlands camps by manager Louis van Gaal.

Everything could, however, have been very different if former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho had his way. The Portuguese boss was in charge of Tottenham at the time when Van de Beek joined United and he was reportedly ‘confident’ of landing Van de Beek from Ajax.

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That’s according to The Athletic, who claim that Mourinho was courting Van de Beek only to fall short at the final hurdle. The collapse of the deal was reportedly down to Tottenham’s inability to offload Tanguy NDombele from the club.

The 24-year-old ended up moving to Old Trafford, as we all know, but it hasn’t quite gone to plan for the versatile midfielder. He will be hoping to reignite his career in the 2021/22 season but the early signs are not promising.

Everton were close to signing Van de Beek from United earlier this summer but a move collapsed at the 11th hour. The Merseyside club has now identified other targets, according to reports.

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