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Donny van de Beek may play a deeper role for Manchester United

Donny van de Beek may play a deeper role for Manchester United
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On Wednesday, Manchester United completed the £40million signing of highly-rated central midfielder Donny van de Beek from Dutch giants Ajax.

The signing was a surprise one, as there had been no rumours or speculation surrounding the midfielder heading to Manchester before this week.

The surprise was likely because the Red Devils are already well-stocked with attack-minded midfielders in the shape of Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba.

Van de Beek is a versatile midfielder though, as he can play as a number six, eight or ten. However, his best attribute seems to be getting into goalscoring positions. The 23-year-old has scored 41 goals in 175 appearances for Ajax, which is a respectable goal tally from midfield. He has got into double figures in his last three campaigns for Ajax.

Looking at the midfield three of United Van de Beek, Pogba and Fernandes, it's certainly an exciting trio.

It is just a matter of United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer working out how to best utilise the players at his disposal without leaving his team exposed in the centre of the pitch.

There seems to be a few possibilities if as expected all three starts regularly. The first possibility is that Van de Beek will play a deeper role, meaning he will slightly more defensive.

It is also possible that Pogba will play a deeper role, as he has done for France in the past. Then there is the possibility that they take turns of moving forward. However, that can be a dangerous game if the players are not disciplined enough.

The trio seem like intelligent footballers, but it seems the most likely possibility is that Van de Beek will play in a deeper role, alongside Pogba with Fernandes as a number ten. Only time will tell if Solskjaer can work out this conundrum to get the best out of his talent midfield trio.

Premier League
OVERALL TABLE PTS GP W D L +/-
1
Manchester City 88 37 27 7 3 60
2
Arsenal 86 37 27 5 5 61
3
Liverpool 79 37 23 10 4 43
4
Aston Villa 68 37 20 8 9 20
5
Tottenham 63 37 19 6 12 10
6
Chelsea 60 37 17 9 11 13
7
Newcastle United 57 37 17 6 14 21
8
Manchester United 57 37 17 6 14 -3
9
West Ham 52 37 14 10 13 -12
10
Brighton 48 37 12 12 13 -5
11
Bournemouth 48 37 13 9 15 -12
12
Crystal Palace 46 37 12 10 15 -6
13
Wolverhampton 46 37 13 7 17 -13
14
Fulham 44 37 12 8 17 -8
15
Everton 40 37 13 9 15 -10
16
Brentford 39 37 10 9 18 -7
17
Nottingham Forest 29 37 8 9 20 -19
18
Luton Town 26 37 6 8 23 -31
19
Burnley 24 37 5 9 23 -36
20
Sheffield United 16 37 3 7 27 -66

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