It has been six years since Ajax enjoyed a sensational 2018/19 campaign, winning the Eredivisie title and KNVB Cup and coming within inches of making the UEFA Champions League Final. Since then, the entire core of that squad has gone on to greener pastures: Noussair Mazraoui, Andre Onana and Matthijs de Ligt are now reunited with former Ajax coach Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, Dusan Tadic and Hakim Ziyech are now plying their trade in Istanbul, whilst Donny van de Beek and Daley Blind have wound up at Girona.

Van de Beek left Ajax after a 12-year spell and made the move to Manchester United in 2020 for £35 million plus £5 million in add-ons, but he was unable to make his mark at Old Trafford and went out to Everton on loan in January 2022. It seemed that a reunion with Ten Hag would revive his fortunes — instead, the Dutch midfielder failed to impose himself in the team and was loaned out to Eintracht Frankfurt in January 2024.

Now, he’s on his way to Spain after joining Girona for €500,000, which could later rise to €9.1 million due to various additional bonuses and a sell-on fee. Having accumulated just two goals and two assists in 62 appearances for United, Van de Beek is now tasked with replacing Pablo Torre in the center of the pitch. He’s gotten off to a strong start, assisting Cristhian Stuani’s goal in his La Liga debut against Osasuna. In this article, we will be investigating Van de Beek and what he can offer Girona.

Name: Donny Van de Beek

Position: Center Midfielder/Attacking Midfielder

Country: Netherlands

Age: 27

Height: 184cm

Preferred Foot: Right

Last Club: Manchester United

Before we begin the data analysis it is important to mention that the data of Van de Beek is coming from his time at Ajax from the 2019/2020 season as there is insufficient data from the past years to carry out a data analysis correctly.

Goals + Assists

How many goals and assists a midfielder has tells us the profile of the player and what his qualities are and although these are not necessary they add value to the player.

Here we can see that Van de Beek has an extraordinary ability to find positions to score goals and then convert those chances into goals. This is because his xG is superior to that of 0.3 and his goals scored superior to 0.35 which is very impressive for a midfielder. This can be a major asset to Girona who have lost Artem Dobvyk, their star striker who won was the top goal scorer last season and they need players who can replace his goals.

From this image, we can deduce that Van de Beek has the ability to generate goal-scoring opportunities with ease as he has more than a 0.2 in xA and assists. This highlights his ability to generate opportunities which can be very useful for Girona who have lost players like Sávio and Yan Couto who were decisive in their attacking play. 

Forward Passing

How many forward passes a midfielder makes tells us his ability to progress the ball into more advanced areas. It also tells us his profile as a player as perhaps he likes to create from deep or he likes to receive the ball higher up the field.

This image shows us that Van de Beek is not known for his forward passing with a low amount and a low precision. However, this may be due to his positioning on the pitch as another player Pablo Torre plays between the lines where he is the one receiving the pass rather than the one passing, and we can observe that he has a low amount of passes. Therefore, this tells us that Van de Beek is most surely on the receiving end rather than on the passing end just like we saw him with Ajax in their wonderful Champions League campaign under Ten Hag.

Progressive Passing

This passing metric gives us more depth into the danger of each player’s passing rather than just passing the ball forward 5m. This is because this metric only includes more specific passes such as a pass 10m closer to the opposition goal if the pass comes from the opposition side of the pitch.

With this image, we can identify that Van de Beek has the most precision, nonetheless, he has one of the least progressive passes per 90. In addition, this may be due to his positioning on the pitch meaning that he receives the pass rather than giving it which devalues himself in this statistic.

Passing

How many passes a midfielder makes tells us how involved he is in the possession and how important his figure is when in positional play. 

In this image, we can observe that Van de Beek is the player that is the least involved in possession with the least passes, however, this is once more probably down to his positioning. This is because Pablo Torre is also positioned higher up the pitch waiting for the ball to come to him rather than the other way around. That is also why Aleix García has a substantial amount of passes as he has played further back this season.

Defensive Duels

Being a dominator of duels in the midfield is essential for the team to be compact and solid when defending.

From this image, we can deduce that Van de Beek is not a player that is often involved in defensive duels, however, he still has a high precision which tells us that it is not a deficiency in his game. Nonetheless, it is not something necessary in Michel’s side as they like to have the ball and will most likely be in possession of the ball most of the time.

Aerial Duels

Being able to win aerial duels in the midfield is key to adapt to any team as there will be teams that like to play direct football.

Here, we can observe that Van de Beek has a high success rate even though he participates in very few aerial duels. However, for Girona, this is not necessarily something essential as they will have the ball for most of the time.

Overall

This chart compares Donny Van de Beek with the rest of the Eredivisie players in his position in the 19/20 season using percentiles in different aspects of the game. The percentiles work in the way that whatever the number, he is better than that percentage of players. If it is 70, he is better than 70%.

In this chart, we can see that he tops all the percentiles in the offensive aspects showing his decisiveness and his ability to create and score goal-scoring opportunities. This is something that can be very useful for Girona having lost some key players in attack like Dovbvyk, Sávio, or Couto. 

Furthermore, we can see that he is in the 96th percentile for progressive passes received which shows that he is a player who acts between the lines and receives the ball to then turn and attack. This is important for Girona as there are few players with the ability to carry out these actions in their squad. Finally, his defensive attributes are not ones that stand out and are below average, though these are not very important for a possession-based side like Girona.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Van de Beek is an excellent signing for Girona if he can recover his form from Ajax as he adds depth and quality to the midfield, something necessary after the departures of key players. He is a player who plays between the lines and has the ability to be decisive for his team by both generating and scoring. In addition, he is the perfect replacement for Pablo Torre as he fits his role.

Nonetheless, he has had 4 years of very limited game time, so there are many doubts as to his physical attributes, and the last time he played in a top European League he didn’t succeed. However, Girona has a playing style that suits his strengths and is in the Spanish league which is a less demanding league in the physical aspects compared to the Premier League. Isco is the perfect example of the resurgence of a player that needed a playing style that suited him where he could succeed and he has.

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Getty Images