Footage has emerged of Donny van de Beek throwing chewing gum towards the dugout after he was not brought off the bench during Manchester United‘s 2-1 win over Villarreal in the Champions League last night.
With the scores at 1-1 heading into stoppage time, United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer elected to bring on Fred and Jesse Lingard.
Both men would play a major part in the winning goal, scored by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Fred’s cross into the area was met by Ronaldo, with Lingard completing the one two for the Portuguese forward to fire home.
When both players were brought on, however, van de Beek showed his dismay on the bench. The gum that was thrown just missed United assistant manager Mike Phelan.
Van de Beek’s playing time
The Dutch midfielder has again struggled for playing time this season at United. He made 36 appearances across all competitions last campaign after completing a move from Ajax – but the majority of those were from the bench.
This season, he has featured just three times. He came off the bench for six minutes during his side’s 4-1 victory over Newcastle on September 11, before starting their Champions League fixture against Young Boys three days later.
He only completed 45 minutes, however, before being substituted off for Raphael Varane in a defensive change following Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s sending off.
The 24-year-old then played his first 90 minutes since the final day of last season in a 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat to West Ham last week.
Van de Beek’s agent, Guido Albers, told Ziggo Sport that he looked to find a new club for his client on transfer deadline day – but that United said he would be staying put.
Albers explained (quotes via @TheEuropeanLad): “We had conversations with Solskjaer and the board. We took the initiative to find a club and our search ended up at Everton.
He added: “We opened talks with Marcel Brands and Farhad Moshiri… Then on Monday night we received a call from Solskjaer and the club who told us that a transfer was out of the question and that he had to report himself to training the next morning.”
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