Donny van de Beek's father has described his son's impending transfer to Manchester United as a 'dream come true'.
Van de Beek, 23, is expected to complete a £40million move to United from Ajax this week after a conversation with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer convinced him to move to the Premier League.
Andre van de Beek told Omroep Gelderland that Nijkerkerveen, where Van de Beek grew up, 'is a proud village' and United are a 'wonderful club'. "Ajax is in our hearts," Van de Beek senior said. "In principle, we will never be finished there. Playing football there for another ten years would not have been a punishment, then you would not have heard Donny [complain], either.
"We looked around. It's beautiful," Andre van de Beek said of Manchester. "But Donny decides for himself."
Talks between United and Ajax accelerated over the weekend and Van de Beek was left out of the Ajax side to face Eintracht Frankfurt in a friendly on Saturday.
Although Tottenham were heavily linked with Van de Beek, it is understood Spurs did not have the funds to rival United for the Dutchman and Jose Mourinho is focused on signing a back-up striker for Harry Kane.
The MEN revealed United listed Van de Beek among their playmaker options in January, along with Leicester City forward James Maddison and Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish. Leicester and Villa both valued their players at £80m and United cooled their interest in Grealish after Villa avoided relegation back to the Championship.
Van de Beek was widely expected to move to Real Madrid this summer but the impact of the pandemic left United with a free run at the Netherlands international.
At 23, Van de Beek is viewed as the perfect age by United's recruitment department and excelled in Ajax's knockout Champions League wins over Real Madrid, Juventus, and Tottenham in 2019.
