Donny van de Beek has named his dream Manchester United 5-a-side team during an open and honest interview with Rio Ferdinand.
The Dutch midfielder, who has only featured sporadically for the Red Devils following his £35 million move from Ajax in September 2020, discussed a wide range of topics on Ferdinand’s YouTube show ‘Vibe with FIVE’.
Midway through the 55-minute chat, Van de Beek was asked to name the 5-a-side team that he believes would win a tournament in Man Utd training.
The 24-year-old named a rather unexpected quintet of players, omitting a host of big-name stars in the process.
Ferdinand had to double-check that Van de Beek understood the question but the Netherlands international was happy with his selection.
"That’s a good question,” the out-of-favour midfielder said. “I think I would pick Raphael [Varane]. I am a big fan of Juan [Mata] as well.
"You have to pick Bruno [Fernandes] because he scores a lot of goals and a lot of assists. I would go for Luke Shaw and Nemanja Matic.”
A surprised Ferdinand replied: “This is your 5-a-side team? Your 5-a-side team to win?
“Okay, wow. That’s surprising that you didn’t pick [Cristiano] Ronaldo, [Jadon] Sancho, [Edinson] Cavani, [Marcus] Rashford… You made a tactical decision, it’s fine, don’t worry!”
Van de Beek said: "I think this team would win. We have so many players, I have to make a tactical decision – the best players don’t always win, the team wins."
Here’s Van de Beek’s 5-a-side team on paper…
Van de Beek: Solskjaer is positive about me
Van de Beek is yet to play a single minute of first-team football this season but is hopeful that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will give him more opportunities after a loan move to Everton was blocked on transfer deadline day.
“They were clear they wanted me to stay here. The manager was really positive about me and he said: 'I need you and I want to keep you here’,” Van de Beek added.
"Of course, what I see here now in the beginning of the season is difficult, because I didn't play one minute, but he [Solskjaer] said ‘What I see every day in training, I see a different Donny now'.
"He was really positive about me and I'm feeling well. I'm in good shape so I hope that I can show the people that I improved a lot."
