Solskjaer: Van de Beek’s time will come

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists that Donny van de Beek’s time will come as he backed the Dutch midfielder to be a key piece for Manchester United going forward.

Van de Beek arrived from Ajax in the summer but has yet to seal a regular role under Solskjaer since arriving at Old Trafford.

The Dutch midfielder has featured 10 times in the Premier League this season, but only two of those appearances have been starts.

Van de Beek has played only 251 Premier League minutes, although he has started three times each in the Champions League and League Cup.

While the former Ajax star hasn’t quite hit the ground running, Solskjaer says that he does have high hopes for Van de Beek to become an important player when given a real chance to shine.

“Donny has played well when he’s got the chance,” Solskjaer said. “I think we are too quick sometimes to jump on that if he isn’t playing, that it is a failure.

“Victor [Lindelof] and Fred are good examples in my team that it takes a little bit of time and now they are massively important players in our squad and in our team and it will be the same with Donny.

“He has come in and is in a midfield pool of players with quality, challenging with Bruno [Fernandes], Juan [Mata], Jesse [Lingard].

“I’ve got loads of no.10s and loads of centre-midfielders with Paul [Pogba], Nemanja [Matic], Scott [McTominay], Fred.

“There are many of them and Donny has played well when he’s got the chance and that is a big thing, that you are ready.

“He is always ready, he works hard in training, [is] positive and he will make differences in many games for us this season, but he’ll grow more and more even for next year.”

Manchester United are preparing for a Carabao Cup semi-final, where they will meet rivals Manchester City with the hopes of booking a date in the finale against Tottenham.

The Red Devils also remain in the Premier League title race, level on points with first-place Liverpool with a game in hand.

After facing Manchester City, Man Utd will take on Watford in the FA Cup third round before then visiting Burnley on January 12 in their next Premier League match.