De Ligt | €45+5m agreement reached pending medical | Signed!

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Adnan said:
De Vrij definitely isn't a nobody and I've got history of defending him on here when he was also said to be slow and average on the ball. Below is what I wrote in 2018 after a poster made similar claims about De Vrij being slow and average. The funny thing is that in this very thread today, one of the poster's is saying that de Vrij plays in the team Dutch team ahead of de Ligt due to him being quicker and better on the ball. It's actually funny to read.

"De Vrij is no where near as slow as you're making it sound. He doesn't have express pace but is quicker than Alderweireld who many consider the best CB in the league."

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/stefan-de-vrij-2018.435432/page-3#post-22194948

And we had a thread on de Vrij in 2014, and I was in the minority wanting the player because apart from his potential as a 22 year old CB, he was available for a very very low fee of £6m and was a opportunity that I felt we had to take. And most of the Dutch fans were adamant about him being not good enough as the thread below quite clearly indicates. De Vrij has had a good career and the £6m that Lazio paid for him was money very well spent.

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/stefan-de-vrij.392770/
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From what i remember, de Vrij did not look very good at that time. He had quite a few bad moments for Feyenoord even in de Eredivisie. In hindsight it was just the 'young player dip in form'. He played himself back into form in Italy and eventualy became the best defender in Italy. Very impressive career in Italy from that point on.

He has been ignored for our national team way too long. When he was Serie A defender of the year de Ligt started over him for our national team.
 
Ayoba said:
Who's that?
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You were literally a ‘you’ll never get promoted with mistakes like that’ away from looking completely like an idiot. Went well for you though trying to be facetious.
 
Wezzaldo said:
You were literally a ‘you’ll never get promoted with mistakes like that’ away from looking completely like an idiot. Went well for you though trying to be facetious.
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Who's that?
 
Stadjer said:
From what i remember, de Vrij did not look very good at that time. He had quite a few bad moments for Feyenoord even in de Eredivisie. In hindsight it was just the 'young player dip in form'. He played himself back into form in Italy and eventualy became the best defender in Italy. Very impressive career in Italy from that point on.

He has been ignored for our national team way too long. When he was Serie A defender of the year de Ligt started over him for our national team.
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You're correct.

Younger players will make mistakes but as far as the fundamentals were concerned with de Vrij, they were always there, and he was at an age that I felt we should've taken up the opportunity to sign him for £6m when Van Gaal was the coach.

And if pace is such a factor for Koeman as some suggest, then why isn't Van de Ven playing ?
 
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OK, Im getting caught up in the hype now.

Initially I didnt want him, two major clubs have got rid of him + doesnt have a great injury record.

I've now convinced myself he is worth the gamble at £35-40m, isnt as slow as i thought and will give our defence a big lift.

Get him signed!
 
Adnan said:
You're correct.

younger players will make mistakes but as far the fundamentals were concerned with de Vrij, they were always there, and he was at an age that I felt we should've taken up the opportunity to sign him for £6m when Van Gaal was the coach.

And if pace is such a factor for Koeman as some suggest, then why isn't Van de Ven playing ?
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When you consider the money we've wasted on CBs in the intervening years, he probably would have been a great signing.
 
The last thing I wanted was another former Ajax player, but I am optimistic about this. He's not gone on to be the best centre back in the world, as was expected when he was 19, but his peak is ahead of him, already has bags of experience and costs about as much as Victor Lindelof.
 
Mr Pigeon said:
So we're buying a slow, injury prone, ugly, fat man who can't pass the ball or tackle? He's also poor in the air and isn't a leader because English is a second language. Also, don't forget that he's been sold by Juventus and Bayern (ignore that when Juventus sold him it was to Bayern, and also that Bayern have too many high earners now, currently in a transitional phase with a new manager etc).

And he's coming here because we'll give him a pay hike? Shocking, I thought we were done wi - ah wait, he's taking a pay cut?! Obviously he doesn't think much of himself then, does he? This has red flags wrapped all around it.

Seriously though. If he gets injured then, fair enough, I can understand the criticism. He's had a couple of bad knee injuries but the worst one left him out for just over a month. I genuinely think that it's a concern but not as bad as some might think - although I understand the fear because we've been burned before. But as for everything else; some of you lot will complain no matter who we sign.
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9/10, would have been 10 but you missed out his chonky father
 
Regulus Arcturus Black said:
Champions League & Premler League double winner Owen Hargreaves was a shoe in for our 2nd best season in our history.
Just because he became a sick note after that doesn’t negate that.
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Great player, bad signing in hindsight though. Depends how you look at it I guess, if it’s based on just that one season then I guess Anderson was worth it too.
 
HTG said:
It’s amazing how you guys manage to blame us for Hargreaves. You aggressively pushed to sign him for years, until we basically faltered. Yet somehow this place got itself convinced we somehow mugged you.
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I was only half serious. Didn’t end well for us though.
 
Herman Toothrot said:
The last thing I wanted was another former Ajax player, but I am optimistic about this. He's not gone on to be the best centre back in the world, as was expected when he was 19, but his peak is ahead of him, already has bags of experience and costs about as much as Victor Lindelof.
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also he played his best football under ten hag. So theres no reason to think ten hag couldnt get him back to his ajax form. If he does, he'll be worth double what we paid for him.
 
dinostar77 said:
also he played his best football under ten hag. So theres no reason to think ten hag couldnt get him back to his ajax form. If he does, he'll be worth double what we paid for him.
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So did van de Beek. Doesn't mean he'll be suited for the prem, even with Ten Hag as his coach.
 
Rolaholic said:
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There it is. And I was wondering how come it was so easy for us to sign a player. Good player, good age, fits the profile, good fee, the club wants to sell him, the player wants to come. Nah, too good to be true.
 
While De Ligt has a lot of good qualities, I am worried that a duo of Lisandro and De Ligt will be too slow for a high defensive line. Similar to the situation with Lisandro and Maguire. There will always be weaknesses in a team, but I think it would be naive to assess this issue while we have the chance. Both Lisandro and Onana are solid with the ball in their feet, so I would rather have a physical CB with pace and aerial power than another ball-player.

I am no master of statistics, but Bundesliga provides a lot of stats, and shows a top speed of 32,81 km/h for De Ligt. For comparison, Mats Hummels had a top speed of 32,44 km/h this season. Maxence Lacroix was the fastest CB in Bundesliga with 36,13 km/h.
https://www.bundesliga.com/en/bundesliga/player/matthijs-de-ligt
 
People are talking about PSG's interest as if 9 out of 10 players won't choose Manchester United over those soulless clowns :lol:

And that one player who goes there is a bullet dodged anyways
 
kaku06 said:
There it is. And I was wondering how come it was so easy for us to sign a player. Good player, good age, fits the profile, good fee, the club wants to sell him, the player wants to come. Nah, too good to be true.
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This will just make us go in harder for him if it’s true. We won’t miss out to PSG now unless we wasn’t serious about him
 
Football players make their weekly salary and it ends up being 51 weeks out of the year, am I wrong with that? Trying to figure out the math about how much he would cost us over all.
In 5 years time will his wages be reasonable for inflation? I doubt it
 
Wallez said:
While De Ligt has a lot of good qualities, I am worried that a duo of Lisandro and De Ligt will be too slow for a high defensive line. Similar to the situation with Lisandro and Maguire. There will always be weaknesses in a team, but I think it would be naive to assess this issue while we have the chance. Both Lisandro and Onana are solid with the ball in their feet, so I would rather have a physical CB with pace and aerial power than another ball-player.

I am no master of statistics, but Bundesliga provides a lot of stats, and shows a top speed of 32,81 km/h for De Ligt. For comparison, Mats Hummels had a top speed of 32,44 km/h this season. Maxence Lacroix was the fastest CB in Bundesliga with 36,13 km/h.
https://www.bundesliga.com/en/bundesliga/player/matthijs-de-ligt
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I'm completely open to signing a different CB and I've mentioned many different names in various threads. But as far as playing in a high-line defense, you need a combination of abilities with composure on the ball against the opponent's high pressure tactics being of a high importance. I believe he has that in his locker, and top speed isn't important for a CB defending the channel in a high defensive line but rather the speed over the first yards is what is important. And again de Ligt had shown that he's quick over the first few yards and then has power and aggression to win the duel.

I posted some highlights yesterday where de Ligt handled Vinicius Junior just fine in a higher defensive line. And the clip below further highlights de Ligt dealing with Mbappe in the channel in a 1v1 ground duel which he wins by showing a good combination of positional awareness, speed over the first few yards, and his physical strength.

 
Rojofiam said:
People are talking about PSG's interest as if 9 out of 10 players won't choose Manchester United over those soulless clowns :lol:

And that one player who goes there is a bullet dodged anyways
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From what I'm reading de Ligt's priority is to join Man Utd hence his representatives are only talking with us right now. PSG are said to have contacted Bayern but the player has instructed his camp to prioritise the move to Man Utd.
 
Adnan said:
From what I'm reading de Ligt's priority is to join Man Utd hence his representatives are only talking with us right now. PSG are said to have contacted Bayern but the player has instructed his camp to prioritise the move to Man Utd.
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I don't see many players with real ambition go there over a top Premier League club. De Ligt doesn't strike me as someone who wants to waste years of his career in Ligue 1 just because he would earn a bit more money there.
 
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kaku06 said:
There it is. And I was wondering how come it was so easy for us to sign a player. Good player, good age, fits the profile, good fee, the club wants to sell him, the player wants to come. Nah, too good to be true.
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I wouldn't worry too much. De Ligt spoke glowingly of ETH when he was appointed here.

If anything I imagine he woul relish the opportunity to work with ETH again. Plus Wilcox sure as hell didn't try to sell him on our "Disneyland" vison.
 
Adnan said:
I'm completely open to signing a different CB and I've mentioned many different names in various threads. But as far as playing in a high-line defense, you need a combination of abilities with composure on the ball against the opponent's high pressure tactics being of a high importance. I believe he has that in his locker, and top speed isn't important for a CB defending the channel in a high defensive line but rather the speed over the first yards is what is important. And again de Ligt had shown that he's quick over the first few yards and then has power and aggression to win the duel.

I posted some highlights yesterday where de Ligt handled Vinicius Junior just fine in a higher defensive line. And the clip below further highlights de Ligt dealing with Mbappe in the channel in a 1v1 ground duel which he wins by showing a good combination of positional awareness, speed over the first few yards, and his physical strength.

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Good post but posting a clip of a sprinting duel vs Mbappe gives me PTSD from last summer.
 
Finally, at long last, we are being ran exactly how Manchester United should be ran. Let the good times roll, you absolutely love to see it.
 
IRELANDUNITED said:
Finally, at long last, we are being ran exactly how Manchester United should be ran. Let the good times roll, you absolutely love to see it.
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Easy tiger, there’s some positive things happening, the structure being put in place and the people within that structure looks 100% better than what we’ve had over the last 10 odd years but we need a year or 2 to see how this pans out. Fingers crossed, an’ all that shit.
 
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