Donny van de Beek

Early years

Van de Beek began his career as a boy with the local Veensche Boys' academy where his father, André, once played. In August 2014, he joined the Ajax youth academy signing a three-year contract, and was assigned to the D-team. He progressed further through the academy and featured in the A1 team Supercup victory against the Feyenoord A1 team. On 27 January 2015, he signed a contract extension, to keep him at the club until mid-2018. Van de Beek made his debut for Jong Ajax (the Ajax reserve team) in the Eerste Divisie against Sparta Rotterdam in January 2015. Two months later, manager Frank de Boer called him to the senior team for a league match against ADO Den Haag as an injury replacement. However, he was an unused substitute in that match. At the end of the 2014–15 season, he won the Ajax Talent of the Future award. In November 2015, Van de Beek was called to the senior team for a UEFA Europa League match against Scottish club Celtic. He made his European debut in the match, which Ajax won 2–1. He termed his debut as "beautiful" and added: "I have taken my duels well. It was of course difficult because the game went back and forth continuously. But I think I did fine." Three days later, Van de Beek made his first team debut in a 2–0 league victory against PEC Zwolle. In the following month, he scored his first goal for Ajax in a 1–1 draw against Norwegian club Molde. As he scored the goal, his head collided with opposition player Joona Toivio's causing…

Van de Beek played youth international football for the Netherlands at under-17, under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels. On 11 September 2013, Van de Beek made his debut for the under-17 team against Germany. He was part of the squad that managed to reach the final of the 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship after defeating Scotland in the semi-final. However, they finished runners-up to England. On 14 November 2017, Van de Beek made his senior international debut against Romania in a friendly match. He appeared in both games in the 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals as a substitute, as the Netherlands defeated England 3–1 but lost to Portugal in the final 1–0. He scored his first international goal on 14 October 2020 in a 1–1 away draw against Italy in the UEFA Nations League. On 8 June 2021, Van De Beek was forced to withdraw from the Netherlands' squad for the Euro 2020 tournament just days before the tournament got under way. It was disclosed by the Dutch FA that Van de Beek had been battling through injury and as a result, he had trained away from the main squad. It was confirmed that he could not recover in time and would withdraw from the Netherlands' squad entirely.

A tactically versatile and hard-working player, Van de Beek is capable of playing anywhere in midfield. At Ajax, Van de Beek played mainly as a central or an attacking midfielder but can also play as a defensive midfielder. The Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo writes that he plays a more offensive role compared to his counterparts on other teams. Goal.com described Van de Beek as a player who has "excellent control and a great eye for a pass as he links up with the attack and is dangerous as he makes runs into the box". While playing for the Ajax academy, he was compared with Davy Klaassen. However, Van de Beek rejected the comparison and said that he was a player who wanted to keep the ball at his feet. Former Ajax captain Joël Veltman described Van de Beek as a player who "works very hard and can play between the lines".

Van de Beek was born in Nijkerkerveen. His parents are André and Gerdina van de Beek. André is a supporter of Ajax and took Donny to their stadium at the age of five. Donny's younger brother Rody played for Veensche Boys.