Comparing Donny van de Beek’s stats to Manchester United midfielders

Bengaluru, Sept. 1: The rumour mill continues to circle around Jadon Sancho’s imminent move to Manchester United.

But in the meantime, the Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has succeeded to fly under the radar in securing the services of another potential with Ajax's Donny van de Beek.

The 23-year-old has been left out of Dutch squad and a deal around £40million now has apparently been agreed with the English side.

Van de Beek will be United's first major signing this summer but will have to compete for a place in United's already congested midfield. But judging by his stats from the 2019/20 season he could certainly be an improvement over some of United's first-team regular.

Below we have validated the statement comparing his last season's league stats with United’s current central midfield options.

Goals and assist

Van de Beek has had an impressive return of eight goals and five assists in the league for Ajax last season, directly contributing to a goal every 147.4 minutes, which is just second best to Bruno Fernandes.

Bruno managed eight goals and seven assists contributing to a goal every 81.5 minutes - best among all the midfielders. Pogba has third-best with goal involvement, contributing to a goal every 301.3 minutes ( 1 G & 3 A).

The rest of the midfielders' numbers are as followed - Scott McTominay 354.4 min (4 G and 1 A), Andreas Pereira 372.5 min (1 G and 3 A), Nemanja Matic 806.5 min ( 2 A), Fred (Didn't score and assist).

Attacking contributions

Van De Beek's chances creation per min number was also impressive last Summer. He averaged 1.9 chance creation per 90 minutes in last Premier League season, which is same as Andreas Pereira (1.9) but greater than Fred (1.5), Nemanja Matic (0.9), Scott McTominay (0.8). Bruno tops this list as well with 2.3 chance creation per min while Pogba just lies behind with 2.2.

The Dutch midfielder has a pass success rate of 82.2%, an improvement on McTominay (80.9%), Andreas Pereira (78.3%), Bruno Fernandes (75.7%) but lower than Fred (87.5%), Nemanja Matic (87%) and Paul Pogba (85.5%).

Defensive Contribution

Van De Beek's defensive work rate is also high despite him playing mostly as a number 8 or 10. He managed 2.2 (75.9%) tackles per 90 minutes in the Eredivisie which is only bettered by Nemanja Matic 2.6 (66.7%) and Fred 2.5. (44.6%).

Mctominay managed the same number as De Beek in this section with 2.2 tackles per min with a success rate of (75.9%). It is followed by Bruno Fernandes 1.7 (41.5%), Andreas Pereira 1.5 (45.5%), Paul Pogba – 1.5 (71.4%).

Fred also tops the interception section with 1.6 interceptions per 90 while Van de Beek managed just 0.8 this time. It is, however, better than Fernandes 0.8, Paul Pogba 0.5, Andres Pereira 0.4 but lesser than McTominay 1.6 and Nemanja Matic 1.3.