Erik ten Hag claims injuries are the 'main reason' why Donny van de Beek is failing to be the 'player he was at Ajax' at Manchester United as he heads to Eintracht Frankfurt on loan

Erik ten Hag has blamed injuries for ruining Donny van de Beek's spell at Manchester United and insisted his experience should not deter other players from signing for the club.

Van de Beek, 26, is on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt until the end of the season after failing to establish himself under any of three different managers – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick and Ten Hag – at United since joining came over from Ajax in the summer. of 2020.

The £35million midfielder made just 23 starts during his three-and-a-half years at Old Trafford and already spent some time on loan when he joined Everton for the second half of the 2021/2022 season, again limited by injuries at Goodison Park.

Ten Hag worked with Van de Beek at Ajax, but hopes that a reunion in Manchester would revive the midfielder's fortunes proved misplaced.

“First of all, he's had a lot of injuries,” Ten Hag said. 'From the first moment I came here to Manchester United, he was not the player he was at Ajax because he was injured. He was unavailable so often and then struggled to recover from that injury for a long time.

The Dutch manager and Van de Beek worked together at Ajax, but the midfielder made just 23 starts in three and a half years

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“That's probably the main reason why he didn't play. We decided on a loan in the summer, but that did not materialize and then his chances are few because we also make agreements and agreements with players and contract players in that position. The competition was fierce.'

Van de Beek is among a number of players who have joined United on big-money deals in recent seasons but have subsequently struggled to live up to expectations. £72m winger Jadon Sancho is also set to leave on loan this transfer window after an open fixture. quarrel with Ten Hag.

But when asked if others might look at Van de Beek's experience and be wary of a move to Old Trafford, Ten Hag disagreed.

“It always depends on those players and how confident you are in your abilities,” he said. 'But I can tell you one thing: the Premier League is tough. Man United, that's hard to play there because it's easier to play in almost any other team than Man United because the pressure is always so high.

'You have to deal with that. But if you have confidence in yourself, this is the best challenge and this is definitely the best club you want to be at as a player. It depends from player to player, and it mainly depends on the character of the player, his personality.'

Ten Hag takes his United side to Wigan on Monday evening for their FA Cup third round tie.

Andre Onana will be in the squad and should also be available for Tottenham next weekend before a late start with Cameroon for the Africa Cup of Nations.

But Onana's back-up Altay Bayindir is yet to make his debut following a summer move from Fenerbahçe and the visit to the DW Stadium could be a chance to give the Turkish goalkeeper a taste of first-team action before he is needed more often .

Van de Beek is loaned to Eintracht Frankfurt until the end of the season

Ten Hag insists he has confidence in all his goalkeepers now that Andre Onana is leaving for the Africa Cup of Nations

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Ten Hag insisted he had confidence in all his goalkeepers despite the decision not to use Bayindir in the Carabao Cup before Christmas.

“At some point Andre will go,” he said. 'We are completely happy and have put together this group of goalkeepers because we feel comfortable with it. We have confidence in both of them and both are very good goalkeepers, both experienced at the highest level.

“I think we can be very confident that we have coverage, and not just coverage, but competition between two or three. We are confident that if Andre has to leave, we are good, that we are in a good place and have a good replacement to fill that gap.”