“As soon as I learned that Manchester United wanted me, I felt excited about taking on a new challenge at such a historic club. In the conversations that followed, I was impressed by the vision that football leaders set out and the role they saw in me. Erik ten Hag shaped the beginning of my career, so he knows how to get the best out of me and I look forward to working with him again. I know what it takes to succeed at the highest level and I am determined to continue this momentum at this special club», Announced Matthijs de Ligt last August when he signed with Manchester United. Encouraged initially by Bayern Munich, the 25-year-old defender set out to discover the Premier League by meeting up with Erik ten Hag, the coach who made him progress (Peter Bosz launched him, editor’s note) on the side of Ajax Amsterdam. An exciting challenge for the Dutch international. Since his departure in the summer of 2019 from Ajax Amsterdam for Juventus, the Batavian has alternated between the average and the good. Far from being catastrophic about his adventures in Turin (2019-2022) and Bavaria (2022-2024), he nevertheless had this need to finally assert himself as the boss of a defense. As we reach the halfway point of the season, the first assessment is quite terrible for the native of Leiderdorp.
If he is an indisputable starter with the Red Devils as his 24 appearances for 1 goal can attest, Matthijs de Ligt is still very inconsistent. Tenth defense in the Premier League tied with Crystal Palace, Manchester United is far from catastrophic in this area and the Mancunians’ problems are mainly in midfield and in attack. Regularly criticized like his team which is currently in thirteenth place in the Premier League, Matthijs de Ligt spoke on this subject last November: “What I have a problem with is that people have created expectations of me because of my past, which works against me. I played every Juventus game, I played every Bayern Munich game, I play every Manchester United game now. When I left Ajax, expectations were extremely high, which means you can never perform well enough. I have to keep telling myself that I’m doing a good job, even in these first two games with the national team this season, I wasn’t even playing bad, I just had a bad moment.»
Matthijs de Ligt still capable of sinking at any time
Since the arrival of Ruben Amorim last November, Matthijs de Ligt has been able to play on the right flank of the Portuguese coach’s three-man defense. Capable of good performances upon the arrival of the Portuguese coach, he received praise from former Red Devils player Wes Brown. “Matthijs de Ligt can be an elite defender for Manchester United. He had some very good matches and when he integrates into the life of the club, he will experience great success. He has been playing at the highest level for many years at such a young age and now he needs to show everyone what he is capable of at Old Trafford. I think he will find his rhythm in Ruben Amorim’s system and will be a valuable player for many years to come“, he declared to Casino24. However, the last few weeks have been rather worrying for Matthijs de Ligt, culminating in this Sunday’s match against Liverpool. If Manchester United had a good match, snatching a 2-2 draw on the leader’s pitch, the Dutch defender was much less reassuring than his friends Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez. Humiliated by Cody Gakpo on the Reds’ first goal and guilty of one hand on the penalty converted by Mohamed Salah, he sank his team.
The Manchester Evening News was conciliatory with a 6/10 while highlighting his errors: “Attacking and aggressive, he caused an uproar by tackling Luis Diaz in the first half. But he was at the scene of the crime for the Liverpool goals.” Same story for NBC Sports who prefers to appeal to bad luck by giving it a 6/10: “unlucky on the penalty whistled against him, he was quite solid before that.” For Goal on the other hand, who rated it with a 4/10, the observation is more severe: “unlucky but also responsible for the two goals conceded. He was cleared by Gakpo and then had his hand in an unnatural position, which left him vulnerable to the video referee review that led to the penalty.» The Daily Express was even tougher with a 3/10: “he was too eager to tackle Gakpo, that he took his sled to slide in the snow before the equalizer rolled in, then raised his arm questionably to gift Salah a penalty.» Not being unanimous and still disappointing in certain big matches like this last performance against Liverpool, Matthijs de Ligt still remains far from the brilliant future that seemed promised to him.
