Van de Beek features in Netherlands win

The midfielder’s move from Ajax was confirmed on Wednesday and the new recruit could make his competitive United debut when our Premier League season kicks off on 19 September.

In the meantime, like many of the Reds’ first-team players, Donny has been selected for international duty.

The 23-year-old was called up for the Netherlands’ double header of Nations League encounters with Poland and Italy respectively.

It was the former who Donny and his Dutch team-mates faced on Friday night in the Johan Cruyff ArenA.

Given that van de Beek hasn’t played a competitive match in nearly six months, it perhaps wasn’t a surprise to see him named among the substitutes by interim manager Dwight Lodeweges.

However, with 15 minutes remaining in the game, Donny was introduced from the bench in place of Tottenham's Steven Bergwijn, who had given the Oranje the lead in Amsterdam on the hour mark.

During his 15-minute cameo, van de Beek helped the Dutch retain possession and their control over the game. In particular, the midfielder linked well with with his former Ajax team-mate Frenkie de Jong in the centre of the park.

The 1-0 win leaves the Netherlands top of their League A Group 1 table, with Italy and Bosnia-Herzegovina drawing 1-1 in the other game.

Elsewhere in the Nations League on Friday, Scott McTominay played the full 90 minutes in Scotland’s 1-1 draw with Israel.

Steve Clarke’s men had taken the lead minutes before the break thanks to Ryan Christie’s penalty, but Eran Zahavi netted in the second period to level proceedings.

Interestingly, Scott played on the right-hand side of a back three in Glasgow and put in an assured performance.

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