Man Utd ex-coach warns Erik ten Hag he already has ‘next Donny Van de Beek’ on his hands

Erik ten Hag has been told he faces a repeat of the Donny van de Beek debacle at Manchester United if he cannot find a role for Mason Mount. The midfielder has struggled for form and fitness since his £55million switch from Chelsea last summer, scoring just once in 22 club appearances.

And now former United coach Rene Meulensteen has made a harrowing comparison between the ex-England player and Van de Beek, who moved to Girona this summer for a meagre £425,000 fee.

That followed a frustrating four years at Old Trafford, where he was largely confined to a substitute role and was sent on loan spells to Everton and Eintracht Frankfurt.

Given the presence of Bruno Fernandes, the Dutchman’s United stint left many questioning the decision of then manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to bring him in from Ajax for a £35million fee. And now Meulensteen, who was on Sir Alex Ferguson’s staff from 2007 to 2013, has implied history is repeating itself.

“I’m not sure Mason Mount’s best position is – he could well be the new Donny van de Beek,” he told Gambling Zone. “He is not really a six or not really a winger, you want him as an advanced eight. The way to do it is to play with one six and two eights or two tens.

“He is good on the transition and winning the ball back for counter attacks, he is so quick and agile and he showed that at Chelsea. Sometimes when you stick to a certain system, it’s hard to fit certain players and I fear he could be the new Donny and his career could fade at United.”

Mount, 25, started the 1-0 Premier League win over Fulham on Friday, but failed to impress as he was hooked off after the hour mark. His replacement, new signing Joshua Zirkzee, went on to score the late winner.

Meulensteen however, also argued the onus was on Mount to work to change the situation, and believes Ten Hag should heed the lessons of the Ferguson era. “Mason Mount needs to work hard in training, during my time at the club we had all different kinds of players but that was an advantage for Sir Alex Ferguson when it came to rotating them,” he continued.

“We could play in the same system but with a different style, from Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo getting in behind to Ji-Sung Park and Ryan Giggs who were completely different. United need to think about how they can use Mason Mount in certain games which would play to his strengths. Maybe putting him on for the last 30 minutes.”

The 60-year-old also said that Christian Eriksen was a similar situation, but backed the notion of Fernandes counting to occupy the playmaker role. “They are basically all playing in Bruno Fernandes’ area of the pitch,” he added.

“Bruno has been such an important player for United with goals and assists and energy. So the others are going to find it really hard to get into their best position.”