Manchester United's signing of Donny van de Beek has sadly proven to be a disaster and Erik ten Hag should ditch the Netherlands international at the next opportunity.

The former Ajax man joined United in a deal worth £35m in 2020 but has struggled for regular game time at Old Trafford ever since, making just 53 appearances since then, contributing two goals and two assists.

This works out at a price of £8.75m per goal contribution, which represents a significant outlay by the Glazers and they will no doubt be keen to move on from this transfer mistake and see Van de Beek move away from Old Trafford at the next opportunity.

The 25-year-old enjoyed his best form under Ten Hag at Ajax, contributing 32 goals and 29 assists under the Dutch manager during his spell with the Eredivisie side, and there was perhaps hope that his arrival at Old Trafford would see Van de Beek rediscover the form that made United sign him.

However, he has featured in just 19 minutes of action so far this season, while the summer arrivals of Christian Eriksen and Casemiro are only going to limit his opportunities further, so it seems clear that he has no future at Old Trafford.

Van de Beek's confidence must be extremely low, as he managed just 68 minutes of Premier League game time for United in the whole of last season, while he only featured seven times in a loan spell at struggling Everton.

In his 19 appearances for United in the 2020/21 Premier League season, of which 15 came from the bench, he averaged a poor 6.35 rating from WhoScored for those performances.

While this suggests that he has never really been given a chance to shine in the top flight, football is a ruthless business and it seems clear that he will never become a first-team regular at United.

Considering he is currently being paid £120k-per-week to sit on the bench at United, you would hope that Ten Hag would look to move him on in the January transfer window, as he simply isn't good enough and is burning a wage at the club.