Van de Beek shocks Rio with dream Man Utd five-a-side team

Joe Williams
Rio Ferdinand Man Utd

Donny van de Beek tells Rio Ferdinand “the best players don’t always win” as he names his Man Utd five-a-side team.

Former Red Devils defender Ferdinand got Van de Beek to come on his Vibe with FIVE YouTube channel for an interview to discuss a wide range of topics.

When asked to name his dream five-a-side team that would win in Man Utd training, Van de Beek said: “That’s a good question. I think I would pick Raphael [Varane]. I am a big fan of Juan [Mata] as well.


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“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.”

Ferdinand was shocked, he said: “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 responded: “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.”

Ronaldo is the latest signing at Man Utd this summer with the Portugal international joining the club on transfer deadline day and Van de Beek thinks the “level” of training will go up.

“The level goes up for sure,” Van de Beek said. “If good players join the team, the level at training goes up. In training you may play with around 24 players, but good players can make a big, big difference.”

Van de Beek only made four Premier League starts last season but the former Ajax star claims that Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is “really positive” about his contribution moving forward.

“He also said: ‘What I see from you every day at training, is a different Donny now’,” Van de Beek added.

“He was really positive about me, and now I am feeling well, I am in good shape, and I hope that I can show the fans that I have improved a lot.

“He said he sees a big difference, maybe I am a bit stronger now and he can see that I have one year of experience in England now.”