Having been linked with Manchester United on a few occasions over the years, Matthijs de Ligt finally made the move to Old Trafford this summer.
Having played for Erik ten Hag at Ajax, De Ligt has spoken to the club’s official site about what an easy decision it was to leave Bayern Munich for United.
Yeah obviously [he was] a really important part because he knows me really well, I know him really well. He made me captain also at Ajax. Also at my time at Ajax he gave me a lot of confidence, he gave me a lot of motivation to try to lead the team.
He’s really demanding, I think. He demands, every day, every moment of the training session, he demands a lot. Not only on the training pitch, but also outside; how you behave, how you take care of your body, how you rest, how you sleep. And he’s really into discipline. That suits really well with the way I see being a professional footballer.
This summer when United came for me and, yeah, the trainer also wanted me really badly — and the club also — it made it, for me, really easy to get the chance to get to the Premier League first of all, and second of all to, I think, the biggest club in English football history. For me, it was a really easy choice to make.
De Ligt is aware that United have won two trophies in the last two years but has set his aspirations higher than domestic cup competitions.
They won two prizes in two years, obviously really good. But I think everybody agrees that United also has to play for the Premier League title, to compete with the other clubs that are fighting for this title. I think that’s a really nice challenge and nice project what I really look forward to try to help the team [with] as much as possible.
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