It has been 696 days since Donny van de Beek made his first start for Manchester United in a meaningful Premier League match. On that particular day, United was trailing by one goal when halftime rolled around, and van de Beek was taken out of the game. They won 3-1 against West Ham.

The only other times that Van de Beek started for the league were in May of 2021, when he faced Leicester and Wolves. The first match took place two days before the rescheduled match against Liverpool, so Ole Gunnar Solskjaer rotated his entire roster for that game. He did the same thing in the second match against Wolverhampton, which took place three days after the Europa League final.

On Sunday, it will have been 701 days since Van de Beek last competed, and it is possible that the wait will continue. Van de Beek would be the obvious choice to replace Bruno Fernandes, but the Dutchman has already served a suspension that will keep him out of action for the next six weeks.

Because of an injury to his thigh, Van de Beek's loan stint at Everton was cut short by two months. Then, in February of 2021, when Paul Pogba tore his hamstring, Van de Beek also suffered an injury and was unable to return to action. He missed work for a whole month.

That came at a terrible time, just like the heart attack that Phil Leotardo had on The Sopranos. Even though his body was prepared, Van de Beek was unable to take his turn in the proverbial "driver's seat." It's possible that some people marked Van de Beek's card the moment he started looking for ways to leave Everton during the summer of last year.

Van de Beek will, astonishingly, have to wait longer for a starting position under the coach who made him this season than he did when his adversary Solskjaer was the manager. The adoration that United supporters show Van de Beek whenever he warms up before returning to the bench is almost as remarkable as the accomplishments of the team itself.

It must benefit charity or the reputation of the organization. The reverence shown to players like Radamel Falcao and Bastian Schweinsteiger was much higher than that shown to players who actually won things with United. Edinson Cavani would pick and choose when he played, thereby extending his time off in Montevideo, but he was still serenaded during his appearances.

Even though Fernandes has earned the treatment of a rock star, he remains a mystery. When he plays alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, he appears to be in a state of shock, despite the fact that he has been at his best for United when the turnstiles have been closed.

Ever since it came to light that some people believed Ronaldo's presence diminished Fernandes' own impact, there has been a startling contrast between the two. Ronaldo didn't play against either Tottenham or Chelsea, but Fernandes scored for Chelsea, and the Blues were able to score twice in the first half. The fact that Ronaldo was brought back intimidated Fernandes. In the past three games, he has also been moved to the wing position on two separate occasions.

During the preseason, the question of whether or not Fernandes would have to change his game in order to be more in line with Erik ten Hag's strategy was met with resistance from Fernandes. He thought the word "weaken" meant "tweak."

"That kind of question regarding keeping the ball or whatever it is is completely beyond my comprehension. When I believe it is necessary to keep possession of the ball, I do so. When I believe it is necessary to pass the ball, I do so, and the result is sometimes successful and other times unsuccessful.

"When things go wrong, I am aware that the pass in question should not have been made, but when you play the number 10 position, there are times when you have only a few seconds to think, control the ball, and make the pass, which is not a lot of time to think about what you are doing.

"When I first arrived in 2020, I lost the same number of balls in those six months, and then the year after that, I lost the same number of balls again, but this time I scored 28 goals, so people don't complain about that. Of course, I understand that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, but when I first arrived in 2020, I was losing the same number of balls in those six months. Now, people started complaining about me after the previous season because I only scored 10 goals because for some people it's only 10 goals."

Fernandes scored against Real Sociedad in the Europa League two seasons ago

It is a common misunderstanding that Fernandes is underappreciated by some people due to the fact that his numbers are low and were down from his first 18 months in Manchester during the previous season. His performance level was still noticeably problematic while he was piling up 28 goals and 17 assists, and his game has not progressed in any way.

By switching the play from attack to defense, Fernandes angered the crowd of 70,000, which was sandwiched between a goal-saving block by Harry Maguire and a goal-saving denial of Declan Rice by David de Gea in stoppage time.

After giving up possession of the ball, his knee-jerk reaction was to open his hands and demand to know why Casemiro had slowed down. If he had taken a quick glance at the scoreboard, which indicated that there were only 90 minutes left in the game, he would have known the answer.

Fred had charged down the left side of the field, making him the clear choice for the pass. If he had been able to get his hands on the ball, it would have given United a three-on-two advantage in West Ham's third. Since then, Fernandes has come to be synonymous with such laxness; he is known as the risk-taker who cannot dial down to risk-averse.

Fred had taken Christian Eriksen's place as the captain of the ship. The pass completion rate of Eriksen is superior to that of Fernandes for short and medium passes, but not for long balls, which is somewhat surprising (measured as over 30 yards). There is not a significant gap between Eriksen and Fernandes in terms of their passing statistics, despite the fact that Eriksen has attempted 141 more passes than Fernandes has (although Eriksen started two fewer games in the Premier League).

The things that Eriksen chooses not to do are almost as effective as the things that he does. As opposed to Fernandes, he rarely throws away passes in an inexcusable manner, and his contribution to the team's success has been so immediate that no United fan in their right mind is hankering after another attempt to sign Frenkie de Jong.

 

Fred, Casemiro, and Eriksen have only started a game together once, and that game was against Real Sociedad on a gloomy and surreal evening in September. Thursday night's opponents are Real Sociedad. Ten Hag made a mistake when he played Fred as the 10 and took Eriksen out of the game during a pre-planned change during the pause.

United possesses a natural 6, 8, and 10 with these three players, allowing them to switch their formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3. Eriksen, who is extremely versatile, thrived as a playmaker for Tottenham, but he has not yet played that position for United.

Van de Beek's wait might go on.