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Donny van de Beek must ‘mentally adjust’ to succeed at Manchester United says Robin van Persie

The Dutchman is set to become Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first signing of the summer.

Ben Burrows
Tuesday 01 September 2020 16:19 BST
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Manchester United have a lot of work left to do, says Solskjaer

Robin van Persie has told Donny van de Beek he must “mentally adjust” if he is to succeed at Manchester United.

The 23-year-old helped the Amsterdam side reach last year’s Champions League semi-finals and has been linked with a variety of high-profile moves.

But United have won the race with the Dutchman set to become Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first signing of the summer.

Van Persie swapped the Eredivisie for the Premier League himself and knows what it takes to succeed in English football.

“Donny van de Beek is 23-years-old and that is a nice age to make a transfer to the Premier League,” Van Persie wrote in De Telegraaf.

“I was a bit younger when I went to Arsenal, and in the locker room, I was considered a player for the future. Winning the Uefa Cup with Feyenoord meant nothing. The Premier League is a completely different world.

“Donny will be brought in as a major purchase from Manchester United, but he will discover that those other 22 players have also been brought in as a ‘major purchase’. One had an even bigger transfer than the other.

“It means that he has to stand there right away and he has to mentally adjust to that. Because Manchester United is in every way a beast of a club.”

Ajax manager Erik ten Hag said there had been developments regarding Van de Beek’s future after the player was conspicuous by his absence from the squad for Saturday’s friendly against Eintracht Frankfurt.

It is understood United have since made progress and are close to agreeing terms with both club and player.

The box-to-box midfielder, who was heavily rumoured to be on his way to Real Madrid before the coronavirus outbreak, scored four goals in Ajax’s run to the 2018-19 Champions League semi-finals and 40 in all competitions over the last three seasons.

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