Van de Beek is enjoying regular football at Girona after moving to the Catalan club from Manchester United for just £500,000. The Dutchman endured a nightmare spell at Old Trafford having been signed from Ajax for £35 million ($46m). He made just 62 appearances and scored two goals in four years in Manchester before being offloaded to Girona.
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THE BIGGER PICTURE
Pep Guardiola's brother, Pere, is president of the board at Girona at a time where the club is enjoying success. Girona finished third in La Liga last season, behind only Real Madrid and Barcelona, and secured Champions League football for the very first time. Guardiola says that Van de Beek is a good fit for his club but couldn't resist taking a dig at the Red Devils at the same time.
WHAT PERE GUARDIOLA SAID
He told The Telegraph: "We have a coach and we play in a way that not everyone fits but some people can fit. That means that Daley Blind, for example, is a perfect player for us and we are a perfect platform for him. Van de Beek is a bit like this. He went to United and was unlucky, losing momentum with different coaches and different players and got injured. He was in teams that were struggling to play attacking football and he needs that type of football. Now we are in a position that our football fits him very well, the Spanish league fits him very well, knowing that he needed time. He had two, three years without really playing and every day now you can see he is improving."
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