Reports claim Van de Beek might decide on Everton stay
According to reports in the Daily Mirror midfielder Donny van de Beek might decide to make his loan move to Everton permanent in the summer.
The paper claims the 24-year-old Dutchman could well consider committing to Everton long-term, if things continue to work out over the remainder of the season rather than return to an uncertain future at Old Trafford.
Although he’s only had a single game in an royal blue shirt, it was certainly a very impressive one and there has already been some talk about whether the Toffees should try and secure his services for good at the end of the campaign.
His performance against Leeds was outstanding and he brought to the Blues side qualities that have been missing for a long time.
In particular the ability to link play, moving the ball on with practised ease, confidence and accuracy while also working hard and putting in crucial challenges. It was the consumate all-round midfield effort.
Too often in the recent past, Everton teams have lacked somone with this ability to knit their football together and enable the team to play through the midfield consistently and effectively.
Even the team’s best current midfielders Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure aren’t the players to do this. Allan isn’t really a number six type and is best suited to being a mobile foil alongside a more dynamic partner.
Doucoure’s strengths are box-to-box ball-winning cover and powerful running both in and out of possession. He also lacks that passing ability and creativity van de Beek brings.
In some ways Andre Gomes was the player who perhaps could and should have fulfilled this role in Everton’s team. But, after a promising start to his career at Goodison Park, his form and effectiveness has declined, especially since that awful injury sustained against Spurs just over two years ago.
This problem of lacking midfielders who could offer genuine creativity and allow the team to play through the middle, has led some managers to conclude the best way is for this side to focus on the counter-attack, look to get the ball out wide quickly and play long balls forward.
Both Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez came to this view and while also somewhat dictated by injuries, decided on a pragmatic approach as the best one to impliment, most of all because of the limitations their midfield players had.
Despite some early success, ultimately this didn’t work and left Everton playing an outdated, slow, predictable and overly defensive type of football.
If the Toffees want to play in a more offensive, modern way as I think they must and as new manager Frank Lampard is obviously committed to, then they need midfielders who can offer the qualities van de Beek has.
As for the Dutchman, it is very early days, there is a long way to go in the season and a lot can still happen before any talk of trying to turn his loan into a permanent one, would be sensible.
Of course, the bottom line anyway is that he is still a Manchester United player and such decisions will depend both on his form with the Blues, as well as who take the reigns as United manager in the summer.
However, if he was to continue putting in performances like the one last Saturday, then the clamour for him to stay on Merseyside will grow. And who knows, with a manager who believes in him as Lampard obviously does, he may well decide he wants to do just that.