Even though Manchester United are one of the most photographed clubs in the world, let alone in the Premier League, the vast majority of the pictures of Donny van de Beek that can be found on Getty Images this season are of him participating in pre-match warm-ups. This is particularly surprising given that Manchester United are among the most photographed clubs in the Premier League.

Van de Beek has a history of remaining unnoticed while playing for the club, and it appears that this trend will continue off the field as well. Van de Beek has only played for a total of 19 minutes since the beginning of the new campaign which began six weeks ago. Van de Beek initially believed that his move to Old Trafford in the summer of 2020 was a dream; however, it is now abundantly clear that the move has turned into an unrelenting nightmare from which he is unable to escape.

United paid £35 million for Van de Beek's services two years ago, and at the time, this seemed like an exceptionally good deal. Because Van de Beek has had such limited playing time during his time at United, the transfer fee that was paid for him appears to have been wasted. Old Trafford has become a graveyard for new signings over the course of the past decade, and the name of Van de Beek deserves to be added to the club's extensive catalogue of recruitment mistakes. Old Trafford has become a graveyard for new signings.

Even though Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wanted to sign Van de Beek, he did not use him during his tenure as manager of the club. It was believed that Solskjaer was responsible for poor management of Van de Beek; however, there have been three managers since the Norwegian, and they have all concurred with his assessment of the situation.

Van de Beek did not make a sufficient impression on Michael Carrick, Ralf Rangnick, or Erik ten Hag during their respective managerial tenures, and this is particularly damning for Erik ten Hag because he is the current manager. It was anticipated that Van de Beek will benefit positively from Ten Hag's appointment.

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Ten Hag was the manager at Ajax who assisted in Van de Beek becoming one of the most exciting midfielders in Europe. The two had a fruitful working relationship, which resulted in the player playing an important role in the 2018–19 Champions League campaign.

That year, Ajax advanced to the semifinals of the Champions League, and Van de Beek was a huge reason for the team's success while playing in the No. 10 position. Van de Beek was turning in some of the best performances of his professional career at the time, and Solskjaer, who was scouting potential new players, took notice of him.

Van de Beek had a difficult time during his time in Manchester, but things looked like they were going to turn around for him now that Ten Hag was at the club. It was believed that because Ten Hag knows Van de Beek better than any other manager, he will provide opportunities for Van de Beek to play with the first team.

In May, when asked whether he was looking forward to seeing him again, Ten Hag responded with "Yes, of course" when asked whether he was excited to see him again. "During that time at Ajax, our team had an incredible roster. I really got along well with him and we had a good relationship. On the field, we are going to have another opportunity to catch up with one another."

During United's pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia, Van de Beek only started one of the four games they played in, but he participated in all four games overall and logged 202 minutes of playing time. Ten Hag gave just seven outfield players more minutes than Van de Beek.

That was encouraging news for Van de Beek, but there was only one new signing on that tour, and that was Tyrell Malacia. This is an important qualification to make. Because Christian Eriksen and Casemiro are now members of the squad, Van de Beek has remained a player on the team's periphery despite his best efforts.

This season, there has been no room for Van de Beek in any of Ten Hag's starting lineups, and the most playing time he has received is a total of 19 minutes across cameo appearances against Brighton, Brentford, and Liverpool. Van de Beek was also a reserve player for Southampton and Leicester, but neither team used him.

If Van de Beek is unable to compete with Ten Hag for a starting position, then his time with the club may be coming to an end. The calls to play Van de Beek have become less frequent with each passing month, and it's difficult to argue with those who say he simply isn't good enough for United to start at this point in his career.

Injury has forced Van de Beek to miss the last three matchday squads, and he was not included in the Netherlands squad this week for the international break. However, his omission from the squad was not due to concerns over his fitness; in fact, it has never been due to concerns over his fitness.

Louis van Gaal, a former manager of Manchester United who is now in charge of the Netherlands, has never included Donny van de Beek in his plans while he was in that role, and he has always maintained in his press conferences that the 25-year-old needs to regularly play in order to be considered for his squad.

He is well aware of the fact that it will take a miracle for Van de Beek to earn a spot on the Netherlands national team to compete in the World Cup. His time spent at United has done significant damage to his chances of making his country's team, and even with Ten Hag in charge, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.