Matthijs De Ligt
The forgotten man
I mean no disrespect when I say this but Matthijs De Ligt has got to be the youngest has been player I’ve ever known.
What I’m saying is that while he is still relatively young (24) he has been around for a long time (which is a testament to his quality) but during this short career, he has never really shown those same qualities at Juventus and Bayern as he did at Ajax where he was the next best young, up and coming defender.
Now though, he just seems to be a player of the past.
Speaking of the past, De Ligt is a player that United have been linked to over the years and now that his former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag remains as the MUFC manager, De Ligt being on the market and the Red Devils in need of a centre-back, cue the rumors.
Details
The young (or not so young?) Dutch defender currently resides in Munich where he plays for Bayern. At 24-years-old, he is still a couple of years behind his prime meaning he is definitely one for the future.
At 1.89m, De Ligt is more than tall enough to be a CB and particularly one in the Premier League.
Transfermarkt have him valued at €65m which is probably around the asking price Bayern will want should United be in for him. His current deal also ends in June 2027.
Style of Play
As with many defenders nowadays, De Ligt does meet several of the requirements needed when playing at the top level.
He is good on the ball, can play out from the back and is both strong and physical. The Dutch defender does have a decent long pass on him but is an area where people would say he needs to improve.
Something that De Ligt does well is in his combinations with the midfielder/s. He can play good combos with them and then move into the spaces created by his midfielders before playing accurate passes into feet.
Physicality is a big part of his game as he does like to get tight to his opponents and uses that body contact to sort of put them off, to annoy them and cause them to make mistakes.
However, this tightness to forwards and oppositions is a problem when he comes up against smaller and quicker players so he needs to pick who he decides to go right up against.
De Ligt also isn’t the fastest of centre-backs although he does possess enough speed to allow his team to play that higher line, to play how Erik ten Hag wants to play.
Which is something that he’s already done.
Given that fact, De Ligt will come into United’s side and already understand what the manager wants from him resulting in him not taking as long to adjust compared to some of the other defenders the club is linked to.
The 24-year-old is also quite experienced when looking at how long he’s been around as well as the club’s he’s played for (Ajax, Juventus, Bayern Munich). De Ligt is also very much a leader as he was captain of THAT Ajax side under Erik ten Hag in one of the club’s more successful periods, at least in recent times.
But admittedly, the fact that he’s gone on to two of the heavyweight clubs in Europe (Juventus and Bayern) and not really been able to showcase those qualities he had at Ajax, is sort of a red flag.
Perhaps not all is at it seems with the young Dutchman.
Compatibility with Lisandro Martinez
Yes, once again, it is the butcher who this potential new centre-back will most likely partner up with.
But can Matthijs De Ligt actually work with the Argentine World Cup winner?
The first thing I look at is whether the new defender is quick. As we know, the butcher isn’t the snappiest when it comes to pace so we need at least one of the centre-backs to be quick.
As mentioned, while he is no slouch, De Ligt isn’t the fastest either and is definitely an area where he could be found out.
Playing that high line will be more of a risk with these two centre-backs as they may not have that ideal recovery speed when teams counter or look to play in behind. Squeezing opponents in their half could be a problem because of this.
A good thing about this potential pairing is that De Ligt does play as the right centre-back which provides that balance as Martinez plays on the left. Should the need arise, De Ligt can also shift over to the left as he had for Juventus from time-to-time.
The two of them can play out from the back, have good distribution, are physical and De Ligt makes up for Martinez’s lack of height so gives us some aerial ability at the back.
The two do have the potential to work together although not without their issues.
Injury History
Compared to some of the other centre-backs Man Utd are linked to, Matthijs De Ligt does have a bit of an injury history although to be fair to him, he has been around longer than the rest.
He appears to have more of the niggles and annoying knocks that keep him out for a few games at a time rather than those severe months-long injuries however, back in 20/21, he did have a shoulder issue that caused him to miss 17 games and 101 days for Juventus and Netherlands.
But he does tend to miss 3, 6, 9 games at a time when looking at his recent injury history. Those can be quite, annoying. After the disastrous campaign United had with injuries, this is something to take into consideration.
Final Thoughts
The fact that he worked with Erik ten Hag before does make me feel a little better about this potential deal as despite De Ligt not performing at his absolute best, if ever there was a manager to get the best out of him, it would most likely be his former boss.
In saying that, while he does possess a lot of good attributes for a centre-back, I am not completely sold on him. It not working out at other big clubs is kind of an issue and he is not a player highly sort after by other clubs which usually give you an indication that he has a lot of quality.
There are also a lot of top, new talent in the centre-back scene that just gets me a lot more excited. If this was the De Ligt coming out of Ajax in 2019 he would be in this bracket.
Perhaps if he does come, we can use him as a squad player which is always welcome even more so one with his qualities. But would he be content with that? That appears to have been his career since moving to Italy and then Germany.
This deal would be a no from me or at least a not yet. I would like other defenders ahead of him as well as players in other positions before we start looking at squad players. If he did join United though, I would back him.
