Respectfully, not my assessment of him at all.
Starting out at Ajax he was seen early on as a potential generational defensive talent. A fact underlined by him becoming the first defender to win the Golden boy award and the youngest captain in Ajax’s 118 year (at the time) history. He was part of the team, as captain despite being 18, that went to the Europa final and then the CL semi-final. When he went to Juve, becoming the most expensive teenage defender of all time, there was a mad scramble for his signature amongst European heavy weights. Eventually landing at Juve courtesy of the late Mino Raiola.
At Juve, despite being 19, he was under the microscope and heavy pressure. He was brought in to play alongside - and learn from - Chiellini, who promptly tore his ACL soon after De Ligt’s arrival. Every mistake and error was magnified and he played under three different coaches in three different defensive systems across his three years there. Despite that, he won a scudetto, and in his last season there played more minutes than any other outfield player.
With Juve restructuring financially and needing to raise funds, the door was opened to a potential move and Bayern parted with big money to sign a player who was still only 22. A player who had had his highs and lows and performed well, and would only be considered a disappointment by those who had unrealistic expectations of a player so young.
At Bayern he has won a Bundesliga and made the Bundesliga team of the season during his two years there. Bayern fans, en masse, have said he is their best defender and have been hugely opposed to his sale. Going as far as to organise a petition against the impending move.
There is no doubt that Bayern aren’t selling him due to performances, they are selling him purely for financial reasons, with him being on big wages in a squad that needs reinvestment and has decent options at CB to weather his departure. It’s still not a move Bayern would want to make under normal circumstances.
And this is where United come in. They’ve been in for him since his Ajax days, and see a very unique opportunity to get a top class, and potentially world class, CB in for an incredibly reasonable fee. He addresses a need in the squad and is undoubtedly the best CB available on the market this summer.
I think it is fair to say that on face value his reputation as one of the best young defensive talents of his generation has slightly waned over the last four years. A superficial assessment aided by him losing his place in the NL side under Koeman. A fact many attribute to him being scapegoated for his red card at the last Euros and NL going out.
But when placed into the context of his circumstances at both clubs (three managers at Juve in 3 years, 2 at Bayern in 2 years), his young age at the time, the little injuries and knocks he picked up limiting game time in a couple of seasons, and the unrealistic expectations put on his shoulders because of the level he showed at 17/18; then it’s easy to see that the dimming of reputation is, as I said before, fairly superficial. When fit and given a run in the side, De Ligt has routinely been amongst his club’s top performers wherever he’s been, and is now coming to an age where you might expect a defender to start to show the sort of maturity that takes them up another level.
For context on his age, Van Dijk, at the same age had just completed his first season at Southampton and was still a year and a half away from making his transfer to Liverpool. It’s genuinely quite rare to see top, top level defensive talents under 24, because there is a certain maturity required to play the position well.
Spending big money on young defenders requires patience because they will inevitably make mistakes and those mistakes will be magnified due to the scrutiny over their fees. Just look at Stones, who was a laughing stock for ages at City, but with maturity became one of the best CBs in the league, if not Europe. Just look at the trajectory of Gabriel at Arsenal from 24 to 26. Huge leap in performance levels. It’s why William Saliba is such a freak. A genuinely world class defender at 23. It’s hard to remember other defenders besides Varane and Ferdinand, who were achieving the same performance levels at that age. I’m sure there are some, but it’s the exception, not the norm.
De Ligt turned 25 in the last couple of days.. He’s already won the league in 3 countries and made league team of the season in two. He has bucket loads of big club, big match, and champions league experience, and has all the tools to take the next step from being top class, to becoming genuinely world class. There’s no guarantee of that outcome, but in terms of explaining his transfers and the demands for his services, it’s very, very easy to see why.
I think a much more reasonable question from you wouldn’t have been “how does this guy keep getting big transfers?”, but instead “why weren’t more clubs in for him at that price?”. And the answer my friend, is that he only wanted United.
Indeed, looking at Madrid going into the new season with Nacho gone, Alaba still crocked, and only Rudiger, Militao, and Vallejo to man the ramparts, why on earth weren’t Madrid in for him at just 45m euros? Perhaps PTSD from the Yoro spanking, and not wanting to go another round? Whatever it was, he’s a player of the age, quality and profile who would’ve fit like a glove at Real.
