FOOTBALL: Van de Beek’s agent claims he wanted to leave Manchester United because Pogba was playing even though he was late

Don­ny van de Beck was dev­as­tat­ed to find Paul Pog­ba play­ing ahead of him at Man­ches­ter United.

For­mer Ajax star van de Beek was one of Europe’s most watched play­ers when he joined Unit­ed for £40m in the sum­mer of 2020.

How­ev­er, the mid­field­er’s career took a nose­dive, and he even failed to make a loan move to Ever­ton in Jan­u­ary last season.

Now back at Unit­ed, Van de Beek remains a bit­part play­er despite Dutch man­ag­er Eric ten Haag lead­ing the side.

But in the Man­ches­ter der­by against Man­ches­ter City, he wants to have a good chance.

For­mer VDB agent Gui­do Albers told Voet­bal Primeur: “I saw how dis­ap­point­ed he was with Man­ches­ter Unit­ed.
And I’ve seen up close what they did to change the situation.

“In Hol­land, Don­ny was well received, per­formed well and was well received by the fans.

“He nev­er played for Man­ches­ter Unit­ed. His rela­tion­ship with the club has become very chilled.

“Paul Pog­ba apol­o­gized for being late to train­ing camp and was allowed to play again.

“Instead of a man who trained 10 hours a day for eight weeks to prove himself.

“At that time, there was that cha­grin. I under­es­ti­mat­ed what not play­ing more would do to his psyche.

“I should have thought about how I could help him earlier.”

VDB, with 19 caps, are now in dan­ger of being left out of the Nether­lands squad for the World Cup. He has played just 19 min­utes this season.