Donny van de Beek has scored his first goal for more than two years just six games into his time at Girona – having failed to do so competitively for Manchester United in the 35 months before his summer exit.
The Dutchman netted an equaliser in his side’s Champions League clash with Feyenoord on Wednesday, albeit was left frustrated as the visitors struck 11 minutes from time to win 3-2. Van de Beek was starting just his second match for the Spanish outfit, although the midfielder has yet to complete a full 90 minutes since March 2022.
That was during his short-term loan spell at Everton from United, just two months before netting in a 5-1 defeat to Arsenal on the final day of the 2021/2022 season.
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Since then, the 27-year-old has only played 26 matches over due to persistent injury troubles and his lack of form. Just 12 of those were for United, having spent the second half of last season on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Having failed to make an impression in his eight matches, of which just half were starts, the German club refrained from triggering his buy-out clause and he returned to United this summer. United then sold their ex-Ajax midfielder for a lowly initial sum of £500,000 up front.
It could increase with add-ons, but it denotes a drastic loss on the £40million splashed out on him in 2020. Across his four-year stay, Van de Beek scored just twice in only 62 outings for United.
He failed to find success under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick or even his former Ajax manager, Erik ten Hag, while in Manchester. His last goal for United came during the 4-1 defeat to Watford in November 2021 after which Solskjaer was sacked and, temporarily, replaced by Rangnick – before Ten Hag then took charge.
Van de Beek’s only other goal for the club came in a 3-0 away League Cup win at Brighton. It meant he left United without scoring a competitive goal at Old Trafford.
