Manchester United News: Rangnick Surprisingly Taps Two Players To Start Vs. Young Boys

Manchester United’s new boss in Ralf Rangnick has announced that he will be playing barely-used midfielder Donny van de Beek and goalkeeper Dean Henderson as starters in their match against Young Boys on Wednesday, December 8.

The legendary German tactician explained that the moves were motivated by his desire to get to know his personnel better and how they measure up on the field against elite competition, plus give some key players rest.

“I have to get to know the players first in the next couple of weeks in order to finally assess them. Right now, I am more than happy to have them all on board and I will try to give them as much game-time as possible,” Rangnick explained in the pre-match presser.

Van de Beek has played nine games for the Red Devils this season, only being a starter twice during the reign of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Old Trafford.

In the game against Villareal, Van de Beek played his most minutes in a season with 66 minutes under then-interim manager Michael Carrick.

Carrick allowed Van de Beek free reign to move around the pitch and not be limited by the role set upon him by Solskjaer in the past as a last-minute substitution.

Manchester United fans saw a glimpse of Van de Beek last time out against Crystal Palace when he subbed in for Bruno Fernandes in the last four minutes.

Having him start against Young Boys could be a tryout of sorts in the Dutch midfielder’s pursuit of consistent playing time.

The same could be set of Henderson, who had been campaigning for more playing time under Solskjaer.

Henderson was the man behind the sticks for the Red Devils in their 1-0 loss to West Ham United in the Carabao Cup last September 22.

Henderson is still working his way back to match fitness after dealing with COVID-19 in early August.

Dutch side Ajax is reportedly interested in signing away Henderson from Old Trafford in the upcoming winter transfer window if he fails to get enough playing time.

Van de Beek was also tipped to make a transfer out and join Everton in the past summer transfer window, but Manchester United blocked the move.

“Even if we may be playing with a few new players or fresh players, it's still important that we win the game. And, by the way, the first game in this group we lost at Young Boys. And so we still need to make up for that and it's clear, no matter which kind of players we will start tomorrow, we definitely want to win the game,” Rangnick shared.