Ole wants one more season from Pogba
Solskjaer says Dutchman is revived by international break
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer believes United could see the best of Donny van de Beek over the final two months of the season.
The £35million midfielder has had a frustrating first season at Old Trafford after signing from Ajax in the summer, starting just two Premier League games.
Van de Beek didn’t start for Holland in their three World Cup qualifiers over the international break either, with Davy Klaassen picked ahead of him for the games against Lativa and Gibraltar, after neither had started the defeat to Turkey.
But Van de Beek did score coming off the bench against Gibraltar and Solskjaer believes his confidence has been lifted by a change of scenery, revealing he was in fine form in training when the squad returned to Carrington on Friday.
“He scored some absolute crackers in training [on Friday],” said Solskjaer. “Sometimes it’s natural that if you don’t play and have injuries you lose a little bit of confidence and spark. Then you go away with your national team, and I can talk from my own experience, sometimes I went back to play for Norway and you get to feel better about yourself.
“In training Donny scored some absolutely top, top goals that I’d be really proud of myself. It’s done him the world of good, going away and scoring a goal for Holland.
“We hope we can see a lot of that for the next eight weeks of the season and then to kick on again.”
While Van de Beek didn’t start for Holland, Jesse Lingard returned to prominence with England after his own international recall.
Lingard has been rejuvenated on loan at West Ham, contributing five goals and two assists in seven games for the Hammers. “I have always rated Jesse very highly and for different reasons it has not worked out for him say the last year or so. But he knows what I feel about him both as a person and as a player,” Solskjaer said.
“The way he has handled things that people don’t really know about, I’ve tried to help him of course as well as I can, but to see how he’s handled it, it’s been an example for everyone to follow. He has kept his head down, focused on his football and he gets his rewards with his performances. Coming back for England, he got three caps he came on in two and started one and played really well, it’s great. On a personal level, I am so happy for Jesse because you know how hard he has worked for this.”
Solskjaer revealed that he allowed Lingard to leave to try and press his claims for a Euro 2020 spot as a reward for his loyalty to United and that it doesn’t necessarily mean time is up on his Old Trafford career.
“You know sometimes as a manager you can think only about yourself and your own squad and the selfish thing would have been to keep Jesse because he would have got the chance, and he knows that,” added Solskjaer.
“He knows we made that decision to let him go, that was a personal decision that he was going to benefit from and we knew West Ham were going to benefit from, but it was for everything Jesse has done for the club. He deserved to play more towards the end of the season because there is a big Euros as well in the summer and we hope he is going to be part of it.”
It’s done him the world of good going away and scoring a goal for Holland
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer