Donny van de Beek

Solskjaer: Donny's time will come

Tuesday 05 January 2021 22:30

It is nothing new for an arrival from another league to take time to become a regular starter, so Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a little aggrieved as to how Donny van de Beek's situation is being reported in some quarters.

Ahead of Wednesday's Carabao Cup semi-final with Manchester City, there was another question about the Netherlands international in the press conference, as his last appearance came just before Christmas in the last-eight victory at Everton.

However, the boss has regularly been asked about the former Ajax midfielder and is at pains to point out that it is just a case of having patience with one of our summer signings.

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"Donny has played well when he’s got the chance," stressed Ole. "I think we are too quick sometimes to jump on that if he isn’t playing, that it is a failure.

“Victor [Lindelof] and Fred are good examples in my team that it takes a little bit of time and now they are massively important players in our squad and in our team and it will be the same with Donny. He has come in and is in a midfield pool of players with quality, challenging with Bruno [Fernandes], Juan [Mata], Jesse [Lingard].

"I’ve got loads of no.10s and loads of centre-midfielders with Paul [Pogba], Nemanja [Matic], Scott [McTominay], Fred. There are many of them and Donny has played well when he’s got the chance and that is a big thing, that you are ready.

“He is always ready, he works hard in training, [is] positive and he will make differences in many games for us this season, but he’ll grow more and more even for next year."

Ole was also keen to insist that all of the players in the squad must be ready to grasp any chances, as Eric Bailly has done since returning from injury.

"Say a Jesse, say players who haven’t played as much now they’ve got to be ready when they get the opportunity," he added. "You see Eric Bailly, he’s come in and he’s been brilliant. He’s waited, he’s had small niggles and injuries, but you have to train well and that is the work on the training pitch that the coaches are doing, and the players are putting in the work as well.

“When you get the chance, be ready to take it."

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