Manchester United: 3 ways Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could line up with Donny van de Beek in his side

#2 As a box-to-box midfielder:

While talking about a box-to-box midfielder, it always retrieves those comments Jose Mourinho made in an attempt to take a slight dig at Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba. Mourinho believed:

"“(It) Means you have to defend well, have the physical conditions to go to the other box, where you have to be good at scoring, creating, heading and then, when your team loses the ball, you have to go to the other box. “Now people say a box to box has to play free of defensive duties. “That is not box to box – that is a box in the box and stay in that box! “I think nowadays with some pundits, some agents, some family members, I think the concept of the box to box is changing a little bit."

Should we walk down the Mourinho lane to consider what a midfielder should and shouldn’t do to justify himself as a perfect box-to-box midfielder, Van de Beek could actually be the midfielder Mourinho would have preferred over Paul Pogba that night. And there were rumours of Tottenham Hotspur, currently managed by Jose Mourinho, making a last-ditch effort to hijack United’s move for Van de Beek.

Those might be just paper talks, but maybe Van de Beek is that sort of player Mourinho would love to have in his team. While playing as a centre-midfielder, also known as a box-to-box midfielder, for Ajax last season, Van de Beek racked up six goals and six assists from 20 appearances, having maintained a passing accuracy of  82.2 per cent.

Defensively, Van de Beek could prove to be a solid acquisition as well, with the Dutchman keeping 0.9 interceptions and 2.1 tackles per 90 minutes across all competitions in the last campaign, meaning Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could use him in a double pivot alongside Paul Pogba, who has raised his defensive part of the game recently.

Donny van de Beek, being a part of that illustrated Ajax academy, has that tenacity and control on the ball. And should Solskjaer take the risk and use him in a double pivot with Paul Pogba at the heart of the midfield, there is a narrow chance that he would fail to convenience. He might not be the next Nemanja Matic but could be the one United devotees haven’t had seen in years.