Manchester United fans thought they had finally seen the back of Donny van de Beek, but the Netherlands international is expected to return to Old Trafford in the summer.
The 26-year-old midfielder joined Frankfurt on loan in January. His deal included an option-to-buy clause that allowed the Bundesliga club to make his stay permanent for a fee of £9.5 million plus an add-on fee of £2.6 million.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Frankfurt will not activate Van de Beek’s option to buy.
The Italian journalist took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to write: “Donny van de Beek will return to Man United in June. The option to buy clause added into his loan deal will not be triggered by Eintracht Frankfurt. Dutch midfielder expected to look for new chapter, new club in the summer transfer window.”
United would have accepted a permanent offer in the summer, but Van de Beek’s stock had plummeted at this point. Frankfurt decided not to include him in their Europa League squad too.
The former Ajax star completed a £40m switch to United in 2020 but failed to nail down a place in the team under multiple managers, including Erik ten Hag who had him at Ajax.
Frankfurt are currently sixth in the Bundesliga with Van de Beek having made just seven league appearances since joining.
There is no way Van de Beek has a future at United, so I hope this saga (if we can call it that) gets solved promptly. That would be best for all parties involved.
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