Former Manchester United goalkeeping coach Frans Hoek has urged Donny van de Beek to stay patient after a tough start to his Old Trafford career.
United pulled off a coup last year when they signed Van de Beek from Ajax for just £35.1million amid interest from Real Madrid.
Despite his impressive career in Dutch football the 23-year-old has not featured as often as he would've liked for United, starting just twice in the Premier League so far.
Van de Beek has not featured at all in United's last five league matches but Hoek believes the midfielder can only be fairly judged after a year in the Premier League.
“It is a big transition, from the Eredivisie to the Premier League," Hoek told Voetbal International.
“Not only the speed of action but also physically. It is Ajax-Feyenoord in England every week, where you also have to win every match at United. But it is not as easy there as in some matches in the Netherlands. I think that we can only actually assess Van de Beek when we are one year later.”
Hoek went on to compare Van de Beek's situation at United to that of former forward Memphis Depay, insisting he has all the quality to succeed at an elite club in the future.
He added: “Perhaps this is the run-up to a fantastic career for Van de Beek in Manchester. If not, there will be plenty of other clubs for him. For now I would say: wait and see.”
Ronald de Boer and Marco van Basten are among the high-profile former Netherlands players to have given more extreme views on Van de Beek's United plight since his move to Old Trafford, with De Boer urging him to leave United and Van Basten saying last year that the player would end up regretting his switch.
