Manchester United did not add any new faces into their side in January, but they did let players go in the window, a decision Ralf Rangnick may regret after seeing how well Donny van De Beek has done so far in his loan spell at Everton.

The 24-year-old midfielder had failed to be given consistent opportunities at Old Trafford, with only four Premier League starts since he joined the club in 2020, and Frank Lampard has now offered the player a lifeline to prove his worth at Everton for the rest of the season after signing him on a loan deal on Deadline Day.

Since joining the Merseyside club, Van de Beek has put in stand out performances in the struggling side in his short time, with his first display sending a huge message to the powers that be at Manchester United.

According to Squawka, the Dutch national offered up an 89.5% pass accuracy while making a stunning ten ball recoveries. He also won seven duels, won the most possessions in the middle third (6), the joint-most tackles (4) and the joint-most aerial duels won (3) against Leeds United.

Despite Everton remaining vulnerable in the Premier League, and conceding their 14th defeat to Manchester City at Goodison Park last weekend, Van de Beek continued to show Rangnick what he is missing, with an outstanding defensive performance against the league Champions.

As recorded by SofaScore, the £100k-per-week star made three clearances, three tackles and one interception, further proving that he offers a wide set of skills in midfield in both defensive and offensive play across the two aforementioned performances, and as a result, his commitment to being a team player and making a positive impact will surely be hard for Rangnick to ignore.

The Everton midfielder, who has been highly praised for making "other players tick" by Rio Ferdinand, has been vocal in the past about his issues at Manchester United and has already been reportedly interested in leaving the club permanently in the summer if Everton were to stay in the Premier League next season.

Paul Pogba has also still not signed a new contract to secure his future at Old Trafford, with his contract ending in the summer, and if they were to lose Van de Beek too, the club will find themselves even further weakened in their midfield options, an area of the squad that has already come under fire several times over the last few seasons, and ultimately would lead to much more money needing to be spent to acquire the right players to replace the pair.

The Manchester giants should do everything they can to ensure Van de Beek comes back to the club this summer to work alongside a new manager going forward, but it could now be hard to convince him to stay after he has had a taste of playing regular football and becoming an important player who is relied upon at Everton.

At the moment, the decision to alienate him from the squad and subsequently loan him away from Old Trafford is looking like a major clanger from the coaching staff at Old Trafford.

In other news: Lampard must ruthlessly axe Michael Keane