83-capped ex-pro believes Ten Hag favourite has gotten ‘much worse’ at Old Trafford, he has to improve

Matthijs de Ligt has endured nothing short of a turbulent start to life at Manchester United this season.

The centre-half was pursued by United in the summer as Erik ten Hag looked to again call upon his former flames to aid his tumultuous situation at Old Trafford, eventually welcoming De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui to his ex-Ajax cohort of Antony, Andre Onana and Lisandro Martinez.

Barring perhaps Mazraoui, who now faces a spell on the sidelines after undergoing minor surgery on his heart, each of Ten Hag’s former protegees has struggled to be at their best for prolonged periods.

Martinez’s injury history is now a red flag for supporters, while Antony has fallen almost entirely out of favour to the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and Amad Diallo. As a result, he has featured for only 27 minutes across two cameos in the opening seven Premier League matches of the term.

As for De Ligt, he’s been thrown into the deep end of a struggling, floundering United side. He has made nine appearances in all competitions thus far – five of which came from the offset. However, a dismal showing in the 3-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur a fortnight ago saw him – and Martinez – dropped for the subsequent clash at Villa Park, though he was utilised off the bench in place of the injured Harry Maguire after 45 minutes.

Sofascore has the 25-year-old with an average rating of 7.00 in the league, which certainly could be worse. He also averages 1.4 ball recoveries per game, 2.1 clearances, 1.1 tackles and 1.0 interceptions. De Ligt has won 63 per cent of his total duels; 67 per cent of his ground duels and 59 per cent of aerial duels. 

De Ligt was at his best in Turin, claims Dutch legend

Ruud Krol, an 83-cap ex-Netherlands international has, however, voiced his concerns over the centre-half’s regression since he left Juventus in 2022.

He said, via Tuttomercatoweb: “Juve bought him when he arrived from Holland. First at Bayern Munich and then at Manchester, he got much worse compared to Juve, he should improve. At Juve, with [Massimiliano] Allegri, he did very well. He was perfect in marking, in positioning on the pitch, he was one of the strongest players in Italy.”