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Donny van de Beek | van de Beek's father: "[Moving to United] a dream come true."

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Rolaholic

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Fair play to Bergkamp, was always one of the few Gunners I genuinely admired along with Henry and Vieira
 

Paxi

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It’s an open secret now. Just announce it.
 

Paolo Di Canio

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I really like them as a club, but feel quite bad for them that they continually seem to be losing talent. On the one hand, I think it's remarkable how many talented players come from that league. So, they get to see these players very early on and that keeps things exciting. On the other hand, it's a shame that the league isn't seen as more prestigious or competitive, and that cycle of developing talent > selling on talent > using money to buy younger talent or developing young players > selling those on, that cycle is not going to help improve the status of that league in the long term.

It's a tricky one, because it is a "successful" model in the sense that they continue to make money out of it. I just feel that certain leagues are always destined to stay on top, and certain other leagues are destined to never close that gap, at least with the way things are.
Its amazing holland as a whole has produced more world class talent then russia,china & usa combined over the last 50 years

I agree with you, it would be great to have the likes of Ajax, PSV & Feyenoord competing for european trophies regularly again for more then one season without being picked apart

Ajax would be a club i keep an eye on their results as i love their city and history, it would be great to see us announce a partnership with them like we had with royal antweerp, i.e we loan our youngsters there and vice versa,send our coaches there for experiance

If i was head of football thats what i would push for myself
 

Paxi

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Did I hear somewhere that he’s very down to earth and still lived at home up until recently. Sounds like his dad is obviously a big and good influence on him. Won’t see him catching Covid or getting arrested. Bite
 

Superunknown

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Its amazing holland as a whole has produced more world class talent then russia,china & usa combined over the last 50 years

I agree with you, it would be great to have the likes of Ajax, PSV & Feyenoord competing for european trophies regularly again for more then one season without being picked apart

Ajax would be a club i keep an eye on their results as i love their city and history, it would be great to see us announce a partnership with them like we had with royal antweerp, i.e we loan our youngsters there and vice versa,send our coaches there for experiance

If i was head of football thats what i would push for myself
Yeah, I agree with all of that. Would love some sort of partnership with Ajax, but ultimately I can't see that happening. Simply because they've got themselves into a pattern of selling their players to a host of other European clubs in numerous leagues, so they won't want to be tied down to just us. It would be utterly unbelievable move for us, but I think it would be much less lucrative for them. Unfortunately.

I do agree with that idea though of having those partnership clubs. Having players out on loan at other top clubs would be useful. It's done Henderson a world of good, as one example. Just for their overall development, I think it's a good step for many players to take.
 

Alemar

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Don't we only announce signings when the stock market is open? It's closed today as it's Bank holiday Monday here in UK. I'd imagine it will be tomorrow it will be officially announced
Stock market is open in the USA...
 

Superunknown

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Very classy response by VVD.
They've still got to meet up for national team duties, which is hugely important to them. Doesn't work in their interests to start slagging each other off one moment and then to be best pals in the same national shirt.

Plus, I think VVD is probably a more than decent bloke in general, regardless of playing for a rival club.
 

Blood Mage

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I still think we should have made signing a DM the priority, but this guy is a better rotation option for Bruno and Pogba than Mata, Lingard or Pereira I guess. Now shift those three out of the club already.
 

croadyman

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I still think we should have made signing a DM the priority, but this guy is a better rotation option for Bruno and Pogba than Mata, Lingard or Pereira I guess. Now shift those three out of the club already.
I have never got the sense that a DM was ever in the clubs thinking this summer once Matic signed that deal
 

Rolaholic

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They've still got to meet up for national team duties, which is hugely important to them. Doesn't work in their interests to start slagging each other off one moment and then to be best pals in the same national shirt.

Plus, I think VVD is probably a more than decent bloke in general, regardless of playing for a rival club.
Yea exactly, Dutch players typically tend to be pretty classy off the pitch as well as on the pitch
 

Matriac

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Did VVD acruly call Manchester United a beautiful club?

There's a spot in our starting 11 for him if he would like! He can join his pal Donny here.
Donny's father was just quoted calling us beautiful as well. I think it's slightly lost in translation from Dutch.

Probably something along the lines "great club".
 

Alemar

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I still think we should have made signing a DM the priority, but this guy is a better rotation option for Bruno and Pogba than Mata, Lingard or Pereira I guess. Now shift those three out of the club already.
Now when VDB is in, we can indeed sell all three of Lingard, Pereira and Mata - and give some game time to Mejbri instead (who would be a second choice sub after VDB in these areas)
 

tombombadil

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They've still got to meet up for national team duties, which is hugely important to them. Doesn't work in their interests to start slagging each other off one moment and then to be best pals in the same national shirt.

Plus, I think VVD is probably a more than decent bloke in general, regardless of playing for a rival club.
The thing that pisses me off the most is that many of their title winning team seem to be really genuine humble blokes. Reminds me of the Class of 92. Makes hating them even harder.
 

Superunknown

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The thing that pisses me off the most is that many of their title winning team seem to be really genuine humble blokes. Reminds me of the Class of 92. Makes hating them even harder.
Saying that, we've got a very likeable team, imo. Rashford seems like a top bloke and there are other players in the squad who I think have that right sort of attitude, too. One of the most likeable squads we've had in a while. It's easily my most favourite team that we've had post-Sir Alex.
 

Kurton

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Great acquisition. I have a feeling he's going to give stern competition to and maybe even displace Pogba. He seems very efficient with the ball, keeps it well, passes it quickly, and on top of it can score goals. Pogba has the tendency to dwell on the ball too much and lose it. Donny is the opposite of it, will make our transitions a lot more quicker.
 

tomaldinho1

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Did VVD acruly call Manchester United a beautiful club?

There's a spot in our starting 11 for him if he would like! He can join his pal Donny here.
He has no reason to dislike United - no personal connection to Liverpool other than being his employer and there hasn't really been as intense a rivalry since he's been there given our fall from grace. I suspect his response might have been less 'nice' if we'd just fought with them for the title and won ;)
 

Giggsy13

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This was a smart and shrewd move by the club. Yes the Dutch league is poor in overall quality but VDB should be judged for his performances in Europe, which were massive in helping Ajax reach the semi finals in 2019. He was so good against Madrid that they were ready to buy him at a higher fee than we paid. Can’t believe a few on here are complaining about this move.
 

berbatrick

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If he can play as a 6, he is exactly what is missing from the midfield.
The other obvious holes in the team are a left footed forward and an attacking right back.
 

HowYouDoin

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As most here I havent really seen him play that much but last few days read a ton about him and it seems like he can play all 3 midfield positions just fine. Started out as a DM, CM comes naturally to him, you can even move him further up the pitch and he will give you goals and assists.

Seems like we can practically mold him into whatever we want, he's that versatile of a midfielder.
The way I see it, he starts, he has to start. Mold him into a Modric. Also when Modric was starting out, he was more of an AM. VDB started out as a DM and we should play him there.
 

tenpoless

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I'm really glad we deciced to sign a perfectly capable midfielder with a good age for a good price.
 

Strelok

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As most here I havent really seen him play that much but last few days read a ton about him and it seems like he can play all 3 midfield positions just fine. Started out as a DM, CM comes naturally to him, you can even move him further up the pitch and he will give you goals and assists.

Seems like we can practically mold him into whatever we want, he's that versatile of a midfielder.
The way I see it, he starts, he has to start. Mold him into a Modric. Also when Modric was starting out, he was more of an AM. VDB started out as a DM and we should play him there.
I heard he played largely as an AM ? Transfermark also displays his natural position is AM and next is CM?
 

Himannv

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Would you guys prefer a proper LB or a proper DM in this window if we have to go for just one?
We don't need an LB at all in my view, so maybe a DM. Even that tends to depend on how Ole wants to set his team up though. He might want Pogba as the DLP, VDB as attacking box-to-box, and Bruno as the hard-working AM, and change it up a bit with Matic, Fred, and McT against certain types of opponents. So he might not really need a pure DM type in the mix.

For now I think he'll start with Pogba, Bruno, and Matic and experiment a bit with how VDB slots in. Seems like a good problem to have to me.
 

HowYouDoin

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I heard he played largely as an AM ? Transfermark also displays his natural position is AM and next is CM?
I heard he played largely as an AM ? Transfermark also displays his natural position is AM and next is CM?
Like I said, havent really watched him so you better ask someone else but from what I've read he is just the complete midfielder type. He can play attacking, he can play defensive, whatever you need of him. But yeah he started out as a defensive midfielder, thats just a fact. Over time they moved him further up and he excelled there as well. Seems to me he is just capable of playing any role in the midfield.
Again maybe better if someone more knowledgable chimes in but for what its worth, my read on him is that he can do it all. In that sense he reminds of a Modric type.
 

Isotope

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Did I hear somewhere that he’s very down to earth and still lived at home up until recently. Sounds like his dad is obviously a big and good influence on him. Won’t see him catching Covid or getting arrested. Bite
COVID works in mysterious way. As long as you're out of the house (even for a grocery), you're on the risk to getting it.


EDIT: dang it!!
 

Red Foxx

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I wonder if any of our players would call Liverpool a beautiful club. Classy by VVD nonetheless
 

Strelok

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Like I said, havent really watched him so you better ask someone else but from what I've read he is just the complete midfielder type. He can play attacking, he can play defensive, whatever you need of him. But yeah he started out as a defensive midfielder, thats just a fact. Over time they moved him further up and he excelled there as well. Seems to me he is just capable of playing any role in the midfield.
Again maybe better if someone more knowledgable chimes in but for what its worth, my read on him is that he can do it all. In that sense he reminds of a Modric type.
You have a link for that?
 
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