Donny van de Beek was born on 18 April 1997 in Nijkerkerveen, the Netherlands. He began his footballing education at local club Veensche Boys before joining the Ajax youth academy in 2014. He broke into the Ajax first team in late 2015 and steadily became a key figure in one of the club's most celebrated sides, contributing to their Eredivisie and KNVB Cup double in 2018–19 and their remarkable run to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals that same season, where he scored the only goal in a 1–0 first-leg win over Tottenham Hotspur.
A technically tidy, box-to-box midfielder who reads the game well and moves effectively between the lines, Van de Beek joined Manchester United in September 2020 for a reported £35 million, choosing the number 34 shirt as a tribute to former Ajax teammate Abdelhak Nouri. His time at Old Trafford proved difficult: he started only four Premier League matches in his first season and saw his second season further hampered by limited opportunities. Loan spells at Everton in 2022 and Eintracht Frankfurt in 2024 offered him chances to rebuild form and fitness, before he signed permanently for La Liga club Girona in July 2024.
Van de Beek made his senior international debut for the Netherlands against Romania in November 2017 and has earned 16 caps, including appearances in the 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals, where the Netherlands finished runners-up to Portugal. At Girona, he now looks to re-establish himself as a consistent starter in top-flight football.