Manchester United have signed Netherlands midfielder Donny van de Beek from Ajax for £35m, plus £5m in add-ons, on a five-year contract.
Van de Beek, 23, performed 175 first-team video games for Ajax, scoring 41 objectives and serving to them make a shock run to the 2018-19 Champions League semi-finals.
He’ll obtainable for United’s opening sport of the 2021-21 season towards Crystal Palace on 19 September.
Van de Beek is the Premier League membership’s first summer season signing.
“I can’t start to elucidate how unimaginable a possibility it’s to hitch a membership with such an incredible historical past,” he mentioned.
“I’m now able to take the subsequent step in my profession and carry out on the highest degree and there’s no increased commonplace than Manchester United.
“This staff has a number of the finest midfielders on the planet and I do know that I can be taught from them and in addition deliver my very own strengths to the group.
“Having spoken to the supervisor about his imaginative and prescient for this staff, the path that the membership goes in is vastly thrilling and I can’t wait to be part of that.”
Boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer added: “Donny has the entire technical attributes wanted to carry out on this staff and has the persona required to succeed at Manchester United.
“His means to see area, time his actions and skim the sport will actually complement the qualities that we’ve in midfield and his arrival actually strengthens the depth of expertise we’ve in that place.”
United confirmed Van de Beek will put on the quantity 34 shirt in tribute to his former Ajax team-mate Abdelhak Nouri, who suffered mind harm after a coronary heart assault throughout a pre-season pleasant sport in 2017.
Borussia Dortmund’s England winger Jadon Sancho can also be a goal for Solskjaer however a deal has stalled over the dimensions of the charge.
Evaluation
BBC soccer reporter Simon Stone
It was evident Solskjaer didn’t belief his back-up gamers. He named the identical XI rather a lot after final season’s restart and didn’t make a change within the Europa League semi-final defeat by Sevilla till the 87th minute. If he had religion in these gamers he would have introduced them on earlier than he did.
Van de Beek provides them choices. They play 4-3-Three however he provides them the choice of taking part in with a diamond and two up entrance, to relaxation Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba, who ran out of steam on the finish of the season.
We’d not discover out what Solskjaer’s first-choice XI is for a short time – and if Sancho does come that will probably be one other ‘drawback’ for him.
The place does Van de Beek slot in at United?
What can new signing Van de Beek add to Solskjaer’s United aspect? Who will he exchange? And the place can he play?
A take a look at his stats from Ajax final season suggests he’s a lot nearer in model to Bruno Fernandes than he’s to any of United’s different midfielders.
| Passes | 42.7 |
| Photographs on course | 0.8 |
| Tackles gained | 1.2 |
| All stats per 90 minutes (Eredivisie + Premier League 2019-20) |
We have collated his stats in contrast with United’s different midfielders – you may learn extra about that right here.
Choose and share your Manchester United XI under.
Discover all the most recent soccer transfers on our devoted web page.
