DON’T DESPAIR DONNY
Dutchman will be flying soon claims Mctominay
SCOTT MCTOMINAY has told Donny van de Beek to keep calm – despite finding himself in the middle of a storm not of his own making.
Van de Beek, 23, has been the centre of attention at Manchester United this week without even kicking a ball in anger for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men.
The Holland midfielder has sparked a huge debate about the Norwegian’s treatment of him after continuing to be left on the sidelines at Old Trafford.
Van de Beek, who cost United £ 40m from Ajax this summer, has completed just 61 minutes of Premier League action and started only two games – in the Carabao Cup against Luton and Brighton.
But Mctominay has told him not to panic and focus on proving how good he is when the chance comes.
The Scotland star, also 23, said: “You can see the way Donny comes to training every day, a big smile on his face, wanting to work hard, wanting to really impress everybody.
“I’m so confident Donny will be such an important figure in this team and throughout the whole season.
“The way he’s come in has lifted everyone else, along with Alex ( Telles), Edinson ( Cavani). Big signings like those, who are top- quality players, can really lift the dressing room.
“We’ve seen that already with the way Alex played in Paris and obviously Donny coming off the bench and showing what ability he has got.
“I feel like there’s no time to panic for Donny. People can be so quick to come to an assumption that he’s not playing and things like that.
“But give him time, let him adapt to the league, let him settle into his new home and really let him concentrate on his season.”
With or without Van de Beek, Solskjaer will be desperate to follow up last week’s opening 2- 1 Champions League win at Paris St- Germain with another against RB Leipzig tonight.
Last season’s semi- finalists are top of the Bundesliga and come to town high on confidence under highly- rated boss Julian Nagelsmann.
Solskjaer admits he has been keeping close tabs on their progress and expects another fierce challenge.
He said: “When you prepare for games, you watch quite a few of the opposition matches but, of course, we have followed Leipzig the last few years, especially in Europe, and their top games, big games in the Bundesliga.
“I know Julian is very adaptable, he’s capable of putting teams together in different formations but the style is always there – the style is he always wants to be dominant.
“It’s high tempo and high pressure, so we have to prepare for a difficult game against a difficult team that can play in many different ways.
“Our focus is on ourselves, that we have to give them problems and then make sure we can solve whatever problems they give us.
“He’s one of those coaches, and teams, you don’t really know what’s going to happen until it’s live. It’s a game I’m really looking forward to.”