Donny Van de Beek’s hopes of impressing potential suitors during the upcoming international window have been dashed by Holland manager Louis Van Gaal, who has omitted the Manchester United outcast from his squad for games against Latvia and Gibraltar.
The 24-year-old arrived at Old Trafford to much fanfare last year following a £35 million transfer from Ajax but has been relegated to a largely peripheral role in his first 18 months at the club.
Van de Beek last played for the Oranje in March, when he came off the bench and scored in Holland’s 7-0 rout of Gibraltar in a 2022 World Cup qualifier.
The last of his 19 caps for the national team came three months later, when he was an unused substitute in a 2-2 draw in a friendly against Scotland.
He was not selected for Holland’s friendly against Georgia four days later and was then ruled out of Euro 2020 with a groin injury.
The former Ajax midfielder has since been left out of the Holland squad for all three World Cup qualifiers the Oranje have played since Van Gaal replaced Frank de Boer at the helm in August.
Van de Beek has started just two games this season – in the Carabao Cup defeat to West Ham last week and in the Champions League loss to Young Boys a fortnight ago when he was replaced at half-time – and has played just six minutes of Premier League football so far.
On Wednesday, the Dutchman cut a visibly frustrated figure in the dugout as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer left him on the bench to bring on Jesse Lingard and Fred as United chased a late winner against Villarreal.
Van de Beek threw a piece of chewing gum towards the technical area in frustration and had to be consoled by Eric Bailly and Dean Henderson, who were also among the unused substitutes in the Group F match.
It is understood the Dutchman will look to leave United in January in a bid to regain his place in the Holland squad.
Van de Beek was eager to join Everton on loan in the summer, but United blocked the move on deadline day.
‘There was a lot of interest from Italy, Germany, England, so that looked good,’ the midfielder’s agent, Guido Albers, said last month.
‘But you need the co-operation of the club. It looked like they would, but ultimately they didn’t.
‘Everybody who knows Donny knows he loves the game and he wants to be on the pitch every week. So from this answer, you can probably tell what he wanted most.’
Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk is one of three Premier League players in Van Gaal’s squad, along with Norwich City goalkeeper Tim Krul and Manchester City defender Nathan Ake.
Holland are currently joint-top of Group F along with Norway with 13 points and play Latvia away on October 8, before hosting Gibraltar three days later.