Donny van de Beek didn’t run rings around defences at Manchester United – but he is putting a ring on the finger of one of football’s most famous daughters.
The former United star, 28, is getting married to 30-year-old Estelle Bergkamp, the daughter of Arsenal and Netherlands legend Dennis.
Van de Beek and Bergkamp started dating in 2019 while he was at Ajax and have two kids: daughter Lomee, three, and a one-year-old son called Navy.
Bergkamp shared her good news on Instagram, writing: ‘The easiest YES ever.’
She shared photos of the love of her life slipping a ring onto her finger and of them kissing.
And father Dennis clearly approves of the union as he ratified it with a pair of red love hearts in the comments section.
Van de Beek joined Manchester United for £40million in 2020 but only managed 62 appearances across four seasons before being offloaded to Girona for an initial fee of £420,600 – just over a hundredth of what he had arrived for.
The Dutchman was rocked by injuries at Old Trafford and, in January 2023, just when he was finding his feet under Erik ten Hag – who had managed him at Ajax – he suffered a devastating knee injury which ruled him out for six months.
In his final three seasons at the club, he only managed a total of 16 appearances and was sent out on loan twice – once to Everton and another time to Eintracht Frankfurt.
He was a regular in his first season at Girona but is ruled out long-term this campaign with an Achilles tendon rupture.
Explaining why things didn’t go his way at Manchester United, the midfielder told The Athletic: ‘I think it was quite unlucky because I played some more games, especially closer to the winter, and then I got injured. That was not easy. It was very bad timing.
‘If you start to play a little bit more, then you can get the rhythm of everything. But that injury arrived, you need to restart again, you need to come up. There are new players coming in, and you start from the backseat again. It’s difficult.
‘I would say this was a key moment for me at Manchester United. In this period normally when you play, you get stronger and better. But I got this injury. That was tough.
‘If you don’t play for that long, then mentally it’s not easy. So then in January [2024], I decided to go to Eintracht Frankfurt [on loan], but it was not really working there either.
‘It’s not easy to come halfway into the season when you have no competitive rhythm because you did not play many games, and then you need to perform straight in.
‘Normally in the second season, everything gets better for a lot of players. But I think it was also a difficult situation.
‘I think the coach left (Ole Gunnar Solskjaer), and a new coach came in (Ralf Rangnick) and then it’s always chaotic. You know it’s not in a stable situation. I went to Everton [on loan] because of that.’
