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Matthijs de Ligt Netherlands flag

2024-25 Performances

View full 2024-25 profile

5.9 Season Average Rating
Appearances
33
Clean sheets
9
Goals
1
Assists
0
Yellow cards
4
Does anyone still think he was a good signing? Another one we'll be struggling to shift in a year's time.
 
Robbie Boy said:
The two of them together is grimm.
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Dumb and Dumber today. I've defended him a lot this season but when you look at his weaknesses he's not really that different from Maguire- the difference is that one is a slightly better passer, and the other, De Ligt, is slightly quicker. The modern trend is towards centre backs that are great on the ball and super quick. We haven't quite caught on to that in the last few years.
 
He was awful today. Very, very poor performance. Him and Maguire both on the pitch both remind me of the old school Pokémon games where Snorlax blocks your route, except these guys are so easy to get around.
 
Rex Banner said:
Does anyone still think he was a good signing? Another one we'll be struggling to shift in a year's time.
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He is on 200/wk with four more years remaining on his contract. He ain't going anywhere.

Him, Mount, Shaw, XXXX are our next batch of deadwood who we won't be able to shift and will be a drain on the resources for a few years to come as their contributions will never come close to the outlay.
 
This signing was a mistake. I was wary about it in the summer and I've not seen anything to change my mind. Not nearly athletic enough, especially in this system.
 
CM said:
This signing was a mistake. I was wary about it in the summer and I've not seen anything to change my mind. Not nearly athletic enough, especially in this system.
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Yeah, I was underwhelmed in his transfer thread, and he’s not convinced me of anything since getting here. A player we wouldn’t miss if moved on. He’s a shadow of his Ajax level.
 
Fortitude said:
Yeah, I was underwhelmed in his transfer thread, and he’s not convinced me of anything since getting here. A player we wouldn’t miss if moved on. He’s a shadow of his Ajax level.
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If he's to play, he needs to be in the middle of that 3. Ideally I'm thinking of him flanked by Yoro and Shaw, both better on the ball and great recovery speed.

Maguire and De Ligt together heighten each other's flaws unless we play very deep.
 
The resume he managed to build on the back of 1 great Ajax season is astounding.

In 2019 I was also entirely convinced he would effortlessly be our best defender for the next 15 years.
 
KirkDuyt said:
The resume he managed to build on the back of 1 great Ajax season is astounding.

In 2019 I was also entirely convinced he would effortlessly be our best defender for the next 15 years.
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I spent entire summer arguing with people here that we aren't getting good value considering Bayern was happy to let him go, and we needed someone that will actually improve the defence, not another Maguire but this time from Holland. I was attacked from different people that it's my hatred towards Ten Hag and his Dutch signings.
 
He's so painfully average, and it was obvious before we signed him. We're a terribly run football club.
 
Almost as if there is a reason he has been sold by two big clubs who never let stars walk way in just a handful of years
 
He's pretty mediocre, as advertised. The signings of him, Zirkzee and even Ugarte to me are arguably more troubling than the Antony signing. That was a big swing on a player that the club and mainly Ten Hag erroneously thought had a lot of potential, many of our signings last summer (including De Ligt) were us signing obviously second rate players for still reasonably high fees as if we've just settled for fighting for a midtable spot.
 
eire-red said:
If he's to play, he needs to be in the middle of that 3. Ideally I'm thinking of him flanked by Yoro and Shaw, both better on the ball and great recovery speed.

Maguire and De Ligt together heighten each other's flaws unless we play very deep.
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To be the central CB, optimally, you have to have superior reading of the game and organisational skills as well as decisiveness. I don’t see any of that in De Ligt. He’s really quite average with attributes that don’t separate him from the pack at all.

I didn’t watch him beyond Ajax, but what @KirkDuyt says feels apt to me - he’s made a career out of the exploits at Ajax where he really looked like he was destined to be *the* CB of his generation. He’s certainly shown nothing here we’d miss if it were gone tomorrow, but I think this is his last so-called giant club gig.
 
RORY65 said:
He's pretty mediocre, as advertised. The signings of him, Zirkzee and even Ugarte to me are arguably more troubling than the Antony signing. That was a big swing on a player that the club and mainly Ten Hag erroneously thought had a lot of potential, many of our signings last summer (including De Ligt) were us signing obviously second rate players for still reasonably high fees as if we've just settled for fighting for a midtable spot.
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It was £200m and high wages to not improve the starting XI by any significant degree, if at all.
 
I'm mindful it was a really bad game but he's had good moments and games in his time here. However to me he seems to just be a generally average PL defender, with below average passing and the odd absolute howler in him (which I guess all defenders have in them to be fair).

I've just not seen this exceptional ability and I think we made a mistake here, if we're talking about probably being stuck with him for a good few years.
 
Amar__ said:
I spent entire summer arguing with people here that we aren't getting good value considering Bayern was happy to let him go, and we needed someone that will actually improve the defence, not another Maguire but this time from Holland. I was attacked from different people that it's my hatred towards Ten Hag and his Dutch signings.
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Yeah it was a strange signing, I pretty much dismissed the rumours initially. He’s not a bad player but he’s also nothing special. Maybe he was just seen as a steady option given Maguire, Lindelof and Evans were out of contract next year, doubts over Martinez’s fitness and Yoro being so inexperienced.
 
DavelinaJolie said:
I'm mindful it was a really bad game but he's had good moments and games in his time here. However to me he seems to just be a generally average PL defender, with below average passing and the odd absolute howler in him (which I guess all defenders have in them to be fair).

I've just not seen this exceptional ability and I think we made a mistake here, if we're talking about probably being stuck with him for a good few years.
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He’s not suited to 3 at the back. He’s a good defender, but not in this system. He’s been better as the central CB of the 3.
 
I feel like without Maguire alongside him he’s a completely different player. The two of them together is just calamitous. DeLigt has been our best CB but then it’s not really much of a competition and he has basically been the best of a bad bunch.

Today he had good moments and bad. Not even sure why people are criticising him for the Young blatant dive. He’d let go before You g decided to throw himself to the deck and he barely even tugged him back.

Is he going to take us back to competing for the league, probably not but think I’d rather shift Harry, Lindelof and possibly Martinez before him.
 
I posted this when he signed for us, along with my reservations based on why he failed at Bayern and Juve.

Wesley Sneijder on his move...

He said: “I don’t know… I thought the Bundesliga suited him well at first. I had a good feeling about that. I think England is much more physical, with big and fast players. I don’t know, I find it difficult to estimate."
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Van Basten...

He said: “I hope for the best for him, because he is indeed a very nice and fun guy. But if you see his progression from Ajax… first to Juventus and then to Bayern Munich, he has not improved much in the few years that he has been abroad. That has to improve.”
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And I remember posters slating Scholes for suggesting he isn’t much better than what we have. He’s been a downgrade on Varane, and he’s not better than Lisandro or Maguire either. Tuchel dropped him because he was too ponderous on the ball and not quick enough for the high line. There’s reasons he was sold by Juve then Bayern, but us being the suckers we are stepped right in to take him off their hands.
 
I think he is worse than Maguire, he is just a worse version of Harry.
I don’t actually know what he brings to this Utd team.
 
pocco said:
I posted this when he signed for us, along with my reservations based on why he failed at Bayern and Juve.

Wesley Sneijder on his move...



Van Basten...



And I remember posters slating Scholes for suggesting he isn’t much better than what we have. He’s been a downgrade on Varane, and he’s not better than Lisandro or Maguire either. Tuchel dropped him because he was too ponderous on the ball and not quick enough for the high line. There’s reasons he was sold by Juve then Bayern, but us being the suckers we are stepped right in to take him off their hands.
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It is almost like Tuchel knows football. I don't understand fans who rates de Ligt.
 
pocco said:
I posted this when he signed for us, along with my reservations based on why he failed at Bayern and Juve.

Wesley Sneijder on his move...



Van Basten...



And I remember posters slating Scholes for suggesting he isn’t much better than what we have. He’s been a downgrade on Varane, and he’s not better than Lisandro or Maguire either. Tuchel dropped him because he was too ponderous on the ball and not quick enough for the high line. There’s reasons he was sold by Juve then Bayern, but us being the suckers we are stepped right in to take him off their hands.
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Disagree. I think they are quite similar in terms of level. But de Ligt is actually available.
 
To be fair Ashworth and our scouting team were against this as per papers at that time but Ineos still went for it to keep TenHag happy as he really wanted this transfer.

Wondering how much we can get if we try to offload him in this summer.

Having said he gives everything and the way he played with blood pouring from his head will stuck in my head forever....I really wish other players got half heart as him, its a pity his style doesn't suit to premiere league
 
Bobby_2024 said:
To be fair Ashworth and our scouting team were against this as per papers at that time but Ineos still went for it to keep TenHag happy as he really wanted this transfer.

Wondering how much we can get if we try to offload him in this summer.
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Reckon we could get decent money for him and wouldn't be against selling him this summer.
 
He's better in a back 2. I said that when Amorim came in. He looked pretty average at Juve in a 3 and much better at Bayern and Ajax in a two. He can use his size and strength to dominate a much bigger area than we are trusting him to. He looks clumsy in this formation, he and Maguire are getting in each others way and they are both really similar players too. He was the fee age and wage we should have signed Maguire at too. I think he can be a good player for us. He has leadership qualities but his form has badly declined along with the rest of the team over the last few months
 
andersj said:
I dont agree at all that Varane was «assured».
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I think more so than De Ligt, but I think he looks flustered when forced to play quickly. That’s probably why he takes about 5 touches of the ball when he’s not under pressure as he’s not wanting to play that game and it takes him a while to assess his options. Varane at his best was no doubt better, and I just felt slightly more confident with him (that’s honestly not saying much) than I do with De Ligt. I think Varane had more class about him and controlled certain situations better and with more composure. Again not saying a lot as I thought he was pretty average for the most part. But my point is that, overall, I don’t think De Ligt is any better than the options we already had/have.
 
Ali Dia said:
He's better in a back 2. I said that when Amorim came in. He looked pretty average at Juve in a 3 and much better at Bayern and Ajax in a two. He can use his size and strength to dominate a much bigger area than we are trusting him to. He looks clumsy in this formation, he and Maguire are getting in each others way and they are both really similar players too. He was the fee age and wage we should have signed Maguire at too. I think he can be a good player for us. He has leadership qualities but his form has badly declined along with the rest of the team over the last few months
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He found himself behind Dier at Bayern at times. I don’t think the bar is particularly high at Bayern as I don’t rate their CBs that highly anyway.
 
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