Donny van de Beek scouting report as Dutch midfielder makes first Man Utd start

Donny van de Beek gave Manchester United fans another glimpse of what is to come as he made his first competitive start for the club in the 3-0 Carabao Cup victory over Luton Town.

The Dutch midfielder did come off the bench to get 25 minutes against Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.

But it was a bittersweet occasion as the 23-year-old grabbed a goal yet ended up on the losing side in the shock 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford.

Against Palace Van de Beek played in a No.6 position after he replaced Paul Pogba, but he was deployed in a more advanced position by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Kenilworth Road, sitting in front of Nemanja Matic and Fred and just behind lone striker Odion Ighalo.

The whole United team came out of the dressing room early for the 8.15pm kick-off, and Van de Beek could be seen fist bumping all his teammates, while he was involved in deep discussion with Juan Mata ahead of kick-off.

He started confidently, popping a number of neat short passes to Jesse Lingard and setting Luke Shaw free down the left flank on a couple of occasions.

He was also not static in his position, roaming all over the pitch and coming deep on a number of occasions to receive the ball or help out with the defensive side of things.

What is already becoming abundantly clear is just how intelligent Van de Beek’s movement is.

His brightest moment in the first-half came without touching the ball, as he fooled two Luton defenders with a delightful dummy from a Lingard pass which culminated in Mata getting a strike away at goal, which was well saved.

That’s not to say Van de Beek did not look promising on the ball too, however, and a cute backheel almost set Mata free in the box, but the Spaniard was flagged for offside.

The £40m signing started the second half quietly, but never shied away from the ball and was surprisingly aggressive in the tackle.

He continued in something of a peripheral role until out of nowhere he almost scored on 72 minutes, reacting quickly to pounce on a rebound in the box before firing a low shot which was saved by Luton’s James Shea.

Just as he was beginning to look tired, Van de Beek was replaced by Bruno Fernandes on 78 minutes, perhaps with Solskjaer looking ahead to Saturday lunchtime’s game against Brighton.

Overall it was a showing which could be described as simply: satisfactory.

There was plenty to admire about Van de Beek, particularly the cleverness of his play, but at the same time there is definitely more to come as he continues to find his feet in English football.

One criticism that could be aimed at him is that he did not exactly grab the game by the scruff of the neck, and his undoubted brilliance came in flashes rather than over a consistent period of the game.

Some of his teammates also did not quite seem on the same wavelength as him either, with passes occasionally misplaced and runs misjudged, and you sense Van de Beek’s best will come when he really gets to know his colleagues (and vice versa).

All eyes now turn to the south coast to see how he fares against Brighton on Saturday.

* Sign up to the Mirror Football email here for the latest news and transfer gossip.