Matthijs de Ligt is the latest Manchester United signing to struggle for form (Picture: Getty Images)
Chris Sutton is the latest ex-Premier League player to criticise Manchester United’s Matthijs de Ligt, saying the defender is ‘clunky’ and not the agile performer he once was.
De Ligt is still just 25 years old, so should be nowhere near passing his physical peak, but Sutton feels that he is not in the right condition for the Premier League.
The Netherlands international arrived from Bayern Munich late in the transfer window in a deal worth £43m, but it has been a tough start to life in England for him.
He has joined a Manchester United side floundering under Erik ten Hag and the drab goalless draw at Aston Villa on Sunday has left the club 14th in the Premier League table.
The centre-back is hardly United’s major problem, but Sutton feels he is working too hard, if anything.
The former Blackburn, Celtic and Chelsea man thinks he needs to do less work on weights in the gym and more on becoming light on his feet.
‘[He’s] been in the gym too much,’ Sutton said on The Daily Mail’s It’s All Kicking Off. ‘I mean, most people need to get in the gym, [but] when he was at Ajax and making his way and he came to the fore, not only was he strong, but he was agile, he was mobile. He just looks clunky, doesn’t he?’
De Ligt has come in for plenty of criticism since moving to England (Picture: Getty Images)
Former Arsenal centre-back Martin Keown has actually praised De Ligt’s athleticism but feels it is his positioning that lets him own.
‘He’s a great athlete but he doesn’t really know the game. He doesn’t know where to be. He doesn’t read the game well enough,’ Keown told talkSPORT.
‘De Ligt has come in, £200million has been spent on this player in transfer fees over the course of his career, it’s quite remarkable. He’s been at Juventus, he’s been at Bayern and Manchester United are the next club.’
Liverpool legend Jamie Carrager has been similarly scathing of De Ligt’s positional sense, tearing into the defender after United’s 3-0 defeat to Tottenham at Old Trafford.
‘United’s rest defence is awful, it always has been behind the ball when they lose possession,’ Carragher said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football. ‘But where’s De Ligt. In every situation in that first half, two massive chances and the goal, De Ligt, a player they brought in for huge money, is completely out of position all the time.
‘So he ends up having to go flying into challenges and then you leave yourself in a situation where you can get yellow cards and red cards.’
De Ligt and Lisandro Martinez were on the bench at Villa Park on Sunday with Harry Maguire and Johnny Evans starting at centre-back.
‘Rotation,’ said Ten Hag of his selection. ‘We have so many games to play so we have to bring them all in. You also look at what is needed for this game so then you make the choice.’
Ten Hag has gone five games without a win as United boss (Picture: Getty Images)
Red Devils hero Gary Neville was not buying that, saying Martinez and De Ligt had clearly been dropped and, while they were poor in the 3-3 Europa League draw with Porto, it seemed a drastic departure from Plan A.
‘The fact that De Ligt and Martinez have obviously been dumped to the bench – you can’t really argue with the decision from a football perspective,’ said Neville.
‘If you watched the goals that Manchester United conceded in Porto, they were horrific from Martinez and De Ligt’s point of view.
‘Just optically, looking at it from a point of view of the plan. The plan this season was for Erik ten Hag to establish his style of play and shift the team up the pitch, make them more aggressive, make them more in the style of what he wanted to implement.
‘United are now going to be camped at the edge of their box with Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans. This is not the plan.’
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