Matthijs de Ligt | Red Devil

My Newcastle supporting mate has been arguing with me because he thinks Botman and Guehi are both better than De Ligt and Lisandro Martinez.

Not sure how you can win an argument with crazy people.
 
The video of him in training is impressive. Clearly a very confident lad. I'm quietly optimistic that he can be a big player for us.
 
He doesn't need to be faster than Mbappe. He is fast enough to enable us to play a high line, if that's what Ten Hag wants, which is all we need.
 
Faetheshire86 said:
The video of him in training is impressive. Clearly a very confident lad. I'm quietly optimistic that he can be a big player for us.
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100% believe he'll be one of our captains/vice/deputies by the time the next world cup rolls around.

Very grounded and mature lad which speaks volumes given the amount of success he achieved and expectations on his shoulders from a very young age
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
My Newcastle supporting mate has been arguing with me because he thinks Botman and Guehi are both better than De Ligt and Lisandro Martinez.

Not sure how you can win an argument with crazy people.
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You’ll always find them type of people though. There’s biased but then there’s unrealistic which is what that statement is.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
My Newcastle supporting mate has been arguing with me because he thinks Botman and Guehi are both better than De Ligt and Lisandro Martinez.

Not sure how you can win an argument with crazy people.
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There for once you can use the Dutch national team argument. If Botman is so great, why is no-one in the Netherlands wondering why he isn't in the national team, not even in the squad for the EC this summer?

I mean, he's one for the future, sure; Van Dijk and De Vrij will probably be retiring before too long. But Van de Ven (who is a year younger) has already overtaken Botman over in that sense.
 
Faetheshire86 said:
The video of him in training is impressive. Clearly a very confident lad. I'm quietly optimistic that he can be a big player for us.
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I just saw the video too. He is clearly the communicative type which is good for our defense. We now have Onana, De Light, Martinez and Dalot who are talkers. He has that captain vibe about him. If he plays well I can see him getting the armband after Bruno.
 
Infra-red said:
He doesn't need to be faster than Mbappe. He is fast enough to enable us to play a high line, if that's what Ten Hag wants, which is all we need.
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Agree. He just needs to be faster than Maguire.
 
flameinthesun said:
Yeah seems very vocal. Mazraoui was also pretty vocal as well.The base level of this squad has being levelled up with our 4 signings. If we can keep Martinez and De Ligt fit that is a formidable pairing.
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Yeah I thought that as well, you would think he had been at the club for years not 2 days
 
Yorkeontop said:
He had all that buzz coming out of Ajax and he's failed to nail down a place at two big cubs. The only hope is that EtH can unlock something like he did back then.
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This is indeed the hope. He never truly settled at those clubs, and was dropped by quite a few managers who didn't see him as ideal for their playing styles. This happens to include the Dutch NT where he hasn't been a starter at major tournaments since the opening match at WC 2022 under LVG
MadDogg said:
He started virtually every game he was fit at Juventus (I believe I read somewhere that he played more minutes than any other player in his last season there).

I don't understand where this myth has come from that he failed at Juventus and they wanted to get rid. He may not quite have reached the heights that they were hoping for (ie. he didn't become the best defender in the world), but he was still clearly good for them. They sold him because they were in financial difficulties and he was one of their higher earners, he only had two years left on his contract and wouldn't sign a new one because he wanted to leave, and Bayern were offering basically the same amount they originally paid for him.
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ShinjiNinja26 said:
When will people stop peddling this narrative? He was first choice for Juve and basically started whenever he was available. He was sold because he wouldn’t renew his contract and they didn’t want him to walk out the door for free. If he flopped at Juve he wouldn’t have been sold to Bayern for 70m. He was also first choice at Bayern and was even in the Bundesliga team of the season in his first year. Him dropping out the team is a fairly recent thing which I think was down to injuries and personal choice by the manager at the time, it wasn’t down to his ability or lack of.
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First part of both replies to the OP are inaccurate. De Ligt endured a difficult start to his career at Juventus. He was subsequently dropped by Sarri after a poor performance against Napoli and after conceding two penalties with handballs against Inter Milan and Lecce.

De Ligt lost his starting role to Merih Demiral after a poor game against Lazio in December of 2020 and sat on the bench for 5 consecutive games. He only returned to the starting 11 after Demiral got injured

In his defense, De Ligt was meant to be eased in at Juve but injury to Chiellini thrust him into the starting lineup.
 
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KirkDuyt said:
The Ligt with a raspy g, like the g in Van Gaal. And the i like in imp.
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If I’m reading correctly that’s how I thought it was

People keep trying to rhyme his name with “light” in the ‘chants for De Ligt’ thread and I’m sure it doesn’t work
 
MF1138 said:
Do any of these pundits remember that we had to play Casemiro at center half quite a bit at the end of the season?
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Just remember the absolute ridicule Martinez got for his height, Sky sports even had their own segment in it with a graphic for morons who can’t process a number. He’s phenomenal. De Light will be too.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
If I’m reading correctly that’s how I thought it was

People keep trying to rhyme his name with “light” in the ‘chants for De Ligt’ thread and I’m sure it doesn’t work
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I don't think that /gt/ sound exists in English, so it's probably not possibly to pronounce his name properly and make it rhyme. But in case it helps, 'ligt' is also 3rd present singular of the Dutch verb 'liggen' (to lay/lie down), and it's pronounced exactly the same as Dutch 'licht', which means 'light' in both English meanings (in relation to illumination and weight). Something for all those poets to work with!
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
He's a leader. 2:10

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Didn't really know this part about De Ligt. I guess I should have, given he was captain of Ajax at 18, but I'm very impressed with his communication and how he is praising others when they do well. I'm not as convinced of his ability as others, but very happy to see that he will bring professionalism and positivity to the dressing room. Hoping his performances on the pitch will surpass my expectations.
 
Dazzmondo said:
Didn't really know this part about De Ligt. I guess I should have, given he was captain of Ajax at 18, but I'm very impressed with his communication and how he is praising others when they do well. I'm not as convinced of his ability as others, but very happy to see that he will bring professionalism and positivity to the dressing room. Hoping his performances on the pitch will surpass my expectations.
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I liked that when one of the young lads lost concentration during a session and was out of position he geed them up and pointed where they should be standing
 
Drainy said:
I liked that when one of the young lads lost concentration during a session and was out of position he geed them up and pointed where they should be standing
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Yes, I like that. Very positive stuff. That can really help the young lads.
 
Desert Eagle said:
I just saw the video too. He is clearly the communicative type which is good for our defense. We now have Onana, De Light, Martinez and Dalot who are talkers. He has that captain vibe about him. If he plays well I can see him getting the armband after Bruno.
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Yeah could see him becoming vice captain very quickly because oozes leadership and will command respect within that dressing room
 
Dazzmondo said:
Didn't really know this part about De Ligt. I guess I should have, given he was captain of Ajax at 18, but I'm very impressed with his communication and how he is praising others when they do well. I'm not as convinced of his ability as others, but very happy to see that he will bring professionalism and positivity to the dressing room. Hoping his performances on the pitch will surpass my expectations.
Click to expand...
Yeah he’s supposed to have always been a leader. I mean we build up people who have won a lot like Varane, Casemiro etc as leaders and they really aren’t and haven’t been at previous clubs either. They are important players who performed their roles very well. Hopefully that’s something De Ligt adds as well.
 
I think De ligt is a top player. He will work nicely with Maguire/Lindelof if Martinez is out. Yoro is an expensive wildcard, De ligt will deliver instantly. One of best tranfers in years, just hope that he's not injured much.
 
Hopefully De Ligt hits the ground running. Really looking forward to watching the backline this season. Yoro might need time and that time should be afforded to United with a fit De Ligt, Martinez and Maguire.
 
CannibalSpectre said:
This is indeed the hope. He never truly settled at those clubs, and was dropped by quite a few managers who didn't see him as ideal for their playing styles. This happens to include the Dutch NT where he hasn't been a starter at major tournaments since the opening match at WC 2022 under LVG



First part of both replies to the OP are inaccurate. De Ligt endured a difficult start to his career at Juventus. He was subsequently dropped by Sarri after a poor performance against Napoli and after conceding two penalties with handballs against Inter Milan and Lecce.

De Ligt lost his starting role to Merih Demiral after a poor game against Lazio in December of 2020 and sat on the bench for 5 consecutive games. He only returned to the starting 11 after Demiral got injured

In his defense, De Ligt was meant to be eased in at Juve but injury to Chiellini thrust him into the starting lineup.
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Well yes, technically you're right. I was talking more about once he'd established himself, that he never 'failed to nail down a place'. I did actually think that the small period he was dropped for was earlier (October or so), but looking at it you are right it was December of his first year. Even then, he started 12 of Juve's first 19 league games. He then started the vast majority of his games for the next two and a half years while he was there.
 
Rolaholic said:
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He is not slow, but this was not a foot race per se, more like positioning, reading the direction the opponent was going to and shielding the ball, it is quality defending, and it is far more important than having superb pace, many top CBs were not that fast but they were world class at defending.
 
When Amrabat was being discussed, everyone pointed to his tackle on Mbappe. Reminds me of that discussion looking at how deeply everyone is taking about his pace.

A CB more or less will never be able to be faster than a striker in a straight up sprint. It's good positioning and reading of the game.

I am quietly confident we have a great CB on our hands if he settles in properly.

He may take time as the way Bayern play is different from United. We do not keep the ball much and that has to change of we are to be a big team and dominate other teams. Him and Martinez along with Mainoo are critical for us to keep the ball.
 
horsechoker said:
Reports of rising levels around the UK were wrong. We're actually sinking now.
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Because they know its gonna create headlines and get people talking about them. I doubt they even believe half of what they say.
 
Hopefully he plays, puts in a 10/10 performance, and scores our fifth goal of the evening. Then he runs to the camera, shows off his abs* and shouts "call me fat one more time!"

*Before his girdle bursts
 
He's going to be magnificent. Yoro will find it difficult getting minutes in the big matches.
 
OmarUnited4ever said:
He is not slow, but this was not a foot race per se, more like positioning, reading the direction the opponent was going to and shielding the ball, it is quality defending, and it is far more important than having superb pace, many top CBs were not that fast but they were world class at defending.
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Agreed. He's not blisteringly quick, but he's fast enough for us to play a high defensive line. I think that agility is more of an issue than outright speed, in part because of his large frame - he looks a little bit awkward if he gets drawn into wide areas or isolated by a pacey dribbler, but we shouldn't really allow our CBs to be isolated too often in this way and De Ligt's reading of the game, positioning and strength at shielding the ball are all very impressive, too.
 
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