How Donny van de Beek was discovered

As youngsters, he and his younger brother Rody both played for Veensche Boys and it was there that he got spotted by the man who became his friend and mentor Harm Grevink. And it was Harm, now in his 70s, who got him his break with Ajax.

“He saw me for the first time in my old club Veensche Boys and he brought me to Ajax,” revealed Donny. “In the holidays I wanted to train a little bit more and I did that with him all the time. He’s a special person.

”A lot of things that I did when I was younger with my football I did with him – shooting, getting fit for the pre-season, I trained a lot with him, and as a person I spoke a lot with him and he helped me a lot.“

Asked what Harm thinks about Donny’s recent move to Old Trafford, the 23-year-old added: ”He said to me he’s really proud of me and now that I have grown up he wants to see me do what I did with Ajax with United and he hopes that I can have a lot of nice experiences here.“