Donny van de Beek

Key strength: Work rate

Box-to-box midfielder

Once heralded as one of Europe's most promising midfield talents during his Ajax heyday, Donny van de Beek now finds himself fighting for relevance at Girona FC. Sitting 12th in La Liga, the Catalan club took a gamble on the 28-year-old Dutchman on a free transfer, hoping to reignite the spark that once made Manchester United pay €39M for his signature. Five appearances and 360 minutes into his Girona tenure, the statistics paint a sobering picture: zero goals, zero assists, and just one yellow card to his name. His market value has plummeted to a mere €2M—a staggering 95% decline from his peak. Yet, deployed as a box-to-box midfielder, van de Beek continues to rely on his tireless work rate, trying to link play between Viktor Tsygankov's creativity on the right flank and Vladyslav Vanat's presence up front. With Girona's ambitions modest and competition from Bryan Gil and Joel Roca fierce, time is running out for the Dutchman to prove he still belongs at this level. The question remains: can van de Beek rediscover the magic that made him special, or is this the final chapter of a career that never quite reached its potential?