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Yet another gameweek of the 2020-21 Premier League season has passed, and it was yet another weekend of warming the bench for Manchester United’s Donny van de Beek. The Dutch midfielder was once again overlooked by Ole Gunnar Solskjær in Sunday’s game against Liverpool at Anfield.

The Norwegian brought on Edinson Cavani and Mason Greenwood in an attempt to break the deadlock in Merseyside. But those changes were to no avail, and despite still having a spare substitution up his sleeve, attacking midfielder van de Beek was left on the bench, yet again.

As a result, the Dutch international has now not played a minute of Premier League football since December 20[SUP]th[/SUP], when he was handed a 20-minute cameo against Leeds United. His teammates had already racked up a five-goal advantage over Marcelo Bielsa’s side by the time van de Beek was even called upon by Solskjær.

Five league games have passed since then, and despite the 23-year-old featuring on the United bench for each of those fixtures, he has had to make himself comfortable, as Solskjær has continuously left him in the stands.

So little game time since his arrival at Old Trafford from Dutch Eredivisie side Ajax has left many onlookers baffled. After all, van de Beek didn’t come cheap. He cost Manchester United £35 million, with another £5 million in possible add-ons.

Usually a player would be left out due to a bad attitude towards training, or something along those lines, like Dele Alli’s treatment at Tottenham, which has seen him be left out of squads on a regular basis and heavily linked to Paris Saint-Germain in the [URL="https://www.betdaq.com/"][U]betting exchange[/U][/URL]. But [URL="https://www.teamtalk.com/news/van-der-sar-reveals-inside-information-man-utd-plan-donny-van-de-beek"][U]according to former Manchester United goalkeeper[/U][/URL], Edwin Van der Saar, who still has a lot of ties at the club, he has a fantastic attitude and does well in training.

Before Sunday’s game against Liverpool, former Red Devils full back-turned-pundit Gary Neville explained that Manchester United may have signed van de Beek in case Paul Pogba was (or is) to leave the club.

“It's interesting, something's happened – the van de Beek signing's an interesting one – I still can't get my head around it,” the former Valencia boss [URL="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9157339/Gary-Neville-claims-Manchester-United-signed-Donny-van-Beek-Paul-Pogba-leaving.html"][U]said[/U][/URL] in the pre-game build-up.
“It's almost as if that signing was sort of done in anticipation of one of the others leaving because van de Beek has just sat on the bench for the last few months and he cost £40million.

“I think that Manchester United are preparing for someone leaving. Maybe Pogba could leave, so they've already got Van de Beek in to maybe assume that role.”

Of course, Pogba’s ‘super-agent’ Mina Raiola said in December that his clients career at Old Trafford was ‘[URL="https://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/raiola-over-for-pogba-at-united/187249"][U]over[/U][/URL]’, but the French midfielder seems to have found a bit of form since then, and if he was to stay into next season, that really would leave van de Beek in a difficult situation at the club.

It will be interesting to see how much game time the 23-year-old gets over the next couple of games. Bruno Fernandes looked sluggish and tired against Liverpool at the weekend, and with another away trip in mid-week, this time to Fulham, surely Solskjær could call upon van de Beek.

After that, it’s another clash with Liverpool in the FA Cup. The Dutchman has featured in all of Man United’s cup games this season, including a 90-minute outing against Watford earlier this month. So, you’d fancy his chances of getting a start in that tie.

In the long run, his future is still unclear. If Pogba stays this summer, then there will be no starting place for him in Solskjær’s side again next season, and at 23 years of age, that is not ideal for van de Beek’s progression.

It is believed that [URL="https://www.football365.com/news/inter-willing-take-man-utd-midfielder-donny-van-de-beek-loan"][U]Inter Milan are keen[/U][/URL] to take van de Beek on loan to the San Siro, but the likelihood of Manchester United letting him leave in this window is slim, as it would be difficult to find a suitable replacement. It’s also reported that van de Beek is in the [URL="https://talksport.com/football/781290/ole-gunnar-solskjaer-donny-van-de-beek-man-utd-neymar-barcelona/"][U]long-term plans[/U][/URL] of the club, but if he doesn’t start playing regular footballer sooner rather than later, he may just pack his bags and leave.