For most clubs, the loss of a £40m signing to a season-curtailing injury would be a major blow, although at Manchester United such a 'setback' has hardly been felt, such is the peripheral nature of the player in question.

That figure is, of course, Donny van de Beek, with the rather anonymous Dutchman having been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign after sustaining a knee injury on what was a rare Premier League start against Bournemouth back in early January.

That cruel blow has seemingly epitomised what has been a luckless stint at Old Trafford so far for the 25-year-old, with the playmaking midfielder having made frankly little impact since his arrival in England back in the summer of 2020.

Despite having spent almost three years with the Red Devils, the Netherlands international - who briefly spent time out on loan at Everton in the second half of last season - has scored just twice and laid on only two assists in 60 games across all fronts, having rarely been handed the faith of those in the dugout.

Such woes are a far cry from the success that the 19-cap dud enjoyed during his time at former club Ajax under the tutelage of Erik ten Hag, as he racked up 75 goal involvements in 175 games in all competitions for the Eredivisie side.

Despite having previously thrived under his compatriot - after playing a key role in the Amsterdam outfit's surge to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019 - the fact that the appointment of Ten Hag at the Theatre of Dreams has not sparked a change of fortunes should be a telling sign that the move will simply never work as far as Van de Beek is concerned.

As such, it would be no surprise if the 6-foot flop is allowed to depart come the end of the season, with transfer insider Dean Jones insisting that it "has to" be the player's last campaign at the club.

What salary is Van de Beek on?

There will likely be a desire among the United hierarchy to simply cut their losses on the struggling asset ahead of next term in order to get the £120k-per-week man off the wage bill, despite the fact that he is said to be worth as little as €4m (£3.5m) - according to CIES Football Observatory.

That urgency will be born out of the fact that by the end of the season the Premier League giants will have forked out around £18.7m with regard to paying Van de Beek's salary, as per FBref, as well as factoring in the player's initial £40m fee - totalling a rather mammoth £58.7m.

Roughly 132 weeks on from signing for the club, the once-promising figure now appears nothing more than a spare part, having only featured ten times across all fronts this season prior to being struck down by injury.

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That limited game time did include a run of three successive starts back in November away to Real Sociedad in the Europa League, as well as against Aston Villa in both the league and the Carabao Cup, albeit with the "lightweight" dud - as described by journalist Steve Bates - having been hooked in and around the hour mark in each of those outings.

In what could have been a potentially defining week in Van de Beek's United career, the unfortunate maestro was simply unable to take his opportunity, with it hard to see the wisdom in giving him any more chances to shine moving forward.

With the Nijkerkerveen-born man not set to feature again this season, United supporters could well have seen the last of Van de Beek in a red jersey.