Manchester United player Donny van de Beek has continued to be omitted from the Netherlands national team once again from the Netherlands squad by manager Louis Van Gaal.
When the player was originally dropped from the national squad back in October, Van Gaal said in his press conference that he had spoken to the player. He said; "I called Donny van de Beek yesterday. I told him that he needs to start playing games."
But he also revealed that he hadn't spoken to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer about the matter saying; "I did not speak with any manager of my players. Maybe it's logical to talk with them, but I haven't done it."
There is no love lost between Van Gaal and United which would explain Van Gaal's reluctance to talk with the man who now sits where he once sat and has been highly critical of in the past.
Back in 2020 in an interview with the Mirror, he questioned Solskjaer 's tactics saying; "It was only when Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes came on they made the difference. Using different systems is okay but my question would be is he actually properly training the players to use these systems?
“Because it’s key that if you switch these different playing systems it must be executed in a good way. It depends less on the quality of the players than on the actual practice of a system in training.”
These echo some of the more recent statements made by pundits such as Gary Neville that United rely on moments rather than existing tactics and Van Gaal has also stated that he believes Solskjaer's football has been 'counter attacking', 'defensive' and 'boring' in the past.
But is Van Gaal's handling of the Van de Beek situation be effected by his pre-existing views of United and his distaste for the tactics of the current manager?
Before Van Gaal was reappointed manager of the Netherlands, Van de Beek had earned 19 caps for the Dutch side over four years. Netherlands failing to qualify for the FIFA World Cup and an injury before the European Championships in 2021 have hampered his appearances for the side.
He wasn't a permanent fixture, to say the least, but he was a reasonably important part of the setup. This was until Van Gaal dropped him for lack of playing time. But if this is the case, some of Van Gaal's other selections don't make sense either.
(All the following statistics are correct as of the time of the Netherlands team selection being announced)
Van De Beek has played 142 minutes of football so far this season, but since Teun Koopmeiners moved to Atalanta, he has only played 161 minutes for the club in what have been limited cameos as he has only started one game for the club.
Also from Atalanta, Martin De Roon has also been selected. De Roon has played 310 minutes for the club, over four appearances after he was banned for Atalanta's first four games of the season. Despite this De Roon has been selected in both of Van Gaal's squads so far.
Davy Klaasen has also made an appearance in the squad, and he has played 271 minutes for Ajax so far. All these players have not really had a large amount of game time, but are still in the squad.
It also stands to reason that Van Gaal has selected four keepers in his squad, which is one more than the usual three, could that spot not have been allowed to Van de Beek or even another outfield player?
Overall it is Van Gaal's squad to do with what he pleases and so far it has been working for him, as he has won two of his first three games and drawn the other one, remaining unbeaten so far.
However, if Van de Beek is given more opportunities by Solskjaer over the coming months, as we have a long season ahead. there are certainly players who could drop out of the squad for the player.
Do you think that Donny van de Beek will see more game time in the lead up to Christmas? Follow our United On My Mind writer Casey Evans on Twitter to get involved in the discussion in the comment section below.
