Donny van De Beek is 'surplus to requirements' at Man Utd

Donny van de Beek has reportedly been deemed 'surplus to requirements' by Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.

The Netherlands international joined United from Ajax for £40 million in 2020 but has failed to nail down a first-team place.

He spent the latter half of last season on loan at Everton, with many expecting him to find a new lease of life under ten Hag.

Van de Beek worked with ten Hag at Ajax and the duo reached a Champions League semi-final in 2019.

He featured off the bench against Brighton, Brentford and Liverpool this season, but has been missing since with injury.

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The Daily Express believe ten Hag is ready to let van de Beek leave in January if a suitable bid arrives.

Van de Beek was used regularly on United's pre-season tour, but McTominay's improvement and the arrivals of Christian Eriksen and Casemiro mean minutes are hard to come by.

James Garner was allowed to join Everton on transfer deadline day and Fred, a regular under interim manager Ralf Rangnick last term, has only started two Premier League games.

United's run of four unbeaten ended with a 6-3 defeat to bitter rivals Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.

Erling Haaland and Phil Foden scored a hat-trick each and City were 4-0 up at half-time.

Antony and a brace from second half substitute Anthony Martial spared United a repeat of that famous 6-1 defeat at Old Trafford 11 years ago.

It's the second time United have gone in 4-0 down at the break under ten Hag. The 52-year-old thinks his players 'lacked belief' at the Etihad Stadium, calling the performance 'unacceptable'.

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"When you don't believe on the pitch, you can't win games," Ten Hag admitted.

"It's quite simple, it's a lack of belief. That is unacceptable. We get undisciplined at following rules and you get hammered, that's happened.

"For me it was a surprise. We were not on the front foot, we were not brave on the ball and there were spaces to play but we were not brave enough.

"In this moment I can't think about positives. We let our fans down, we let ourselves down and we're hugely disappointed."

Cristiano Ronaldo remained on the bench and ten Hag claimed it was 'out of respect for his big career'.

United return to action in the Europa League on Thursday evening against Omonia Nicosia.