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Donny van de Beek is having a difficult start to his Eintracht Frankfurt career, as the Manchester United loanee has struggled to win over his new admirers since leaving the Premier League giants.
It wasn’t a good sign when the Dutchman was substituted at halftime in last week’s 1-0 victory over relegation-threatened Mainz at the Commerzbank Arena.
After flashing a few encouraging indicators in his first two Eintracht Frankfurt appearances, this felt like a major step back for Donny van de Beek, who had been loaned out by Manchester United and was keen to restart his stalled Bundesliga career.
And it’s fair to say Matt Ford, a German football analyst and co-host of the Gegenpressing podcast, was unimpressed by a performance that left more questions than answers about Van de Beek’s future at Frankfurt.
Donny van de Beek struggled in the Bundesliga.
“Donny Van de Beek was much worse than I’d seen him in Manchester, to be honest. And it says something, doesn’t it?” Ford sighed.
“One particular moment stands out in my mind. He receives the ball in the center circle, with plenty of space. But instead of turning and moving forward, he simply takes a touch and gently returns the ball to defence. The entire crowd moans.
“He gets dragged off at half time.”
Van van Beek has not played 90 minutes in any of his three Frankfurt games and has been left out of Dino Toppmoller’s roster for the balance of the Europa Conference League season. Man United’s dreams of removing the former Ajax star from their onerous salary bill may already be dangling by a thread, with Ford hearing that the £13 million buy clause in Van de Beek’s contract is unlikely to be activated anytime soon.
The good news for Van de Beek is that Toppmoller seems to grasp the value of patience. After four years on the bench, the Frankfurt manager understands it will take time to get up to speed.
“The two of them are not in sync with the game. We’re trying to integrate them,” Toppmoller says of Van de Beek and Sasa Kalajdzic, who is owned by the Wolves.
“It’s not about them performing admirably in their first two games. But about assisting us over the second half of the season.
