Alongside the arrivals of Mason Mount and André Onana, a crucial facet of this summer's transfer window for Manchester United will be the players who depart the club.
Long-serving goalkeeper David de Gea has departed the club after 12 years in Manchester, while the removal of the club captaincy from Harry Maguire's shoulders seems to hint at a move away for the English centre back. Meanwhile, underperforming forwards Anthony Elanga and Anthony Martial have both been heavily linked with leaving Old Trafford this summer.
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One man who has been somewhat forgotten amid all of the frenzy at Manchester United this summer is Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek.
Signed in the summer of 2020 under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, van de Beek struggled to make the expected impact during his first two seasons at United, and ultimately spent the second half of the 2021-22 season on loan at struggling Everton.
Van de Beek burst into the consciousness of European football fans with his exploits during Ajax's run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019 and with the manager of that team, Erik Ten Hag, taking over at Old Trafford last summer, hopes were high the Dutchman might finally be able to crack into the Manchester United team.
That has not transpired and, despite scoring the only goal of this week's pre-season friendly against Lyon with a tidy volley, van de Beek remains one of those expected to depart the club this summer - and Celtic have been rumoured to be interested in signing the 26-year-old.
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Manchester United: Donny van de Beek responds to Celtic links
Reports last week suggested that Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is interested in bringing Donny van de Beek to Glasgow, as the midfielder remains out of favour at Manchester United.
A whole host of clubs have been linked with the Dutchman, ranging from Europa League champions Sevilla to Champions League runners-up Inter Milan, while Premier League clubs Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace have also been linked with van de Beek.
GOALLL!!! ⚽️@Donny_Beek6 opens the scoring with a sweet volley 🍬#MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 19, 2023
After scoring the winner in a 1-0 win over Lyon in Wednesday's pre-season friendly at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, van de Beek addressed the rumours linking him with a move away from Manchester United.
The ex-Ajax man admitted he was open to a move away, but said the future was too uncertain to make any definitive statement:
For now, it's hard to say where my future is. I've come back now after injury and I'm fit now...I play my first minutes after training for a few weeks. I try to push as hard as possible.
Every day [something] can happen, so it's hard to say now where my future will be - in football you never know, especially with me, so let's see what happens.
Early last season, manager Ten Hag suggested he would be open to letting van de Beek leave the club, despite their history of working together at Ajax.
The arrival of Mason Mount at Manchester United will only cast more doubt on Donny van de Beek's future with the club, and he will have a tough fight on his hands to earn a spot in the team if he does end up staying at Old Trafford.
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