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Matthijs de Ligt has shed some light on his special relationship with Erik ten Hag, which played a huge role in convincing him to join Manchester United this summer.
Earlier this month, United officially unveiled De Ligt after striking an agreement with Bayern Munich.
He made his debut for the club in their opening match of the Premier League season against Fulham when he came on as a late substitute for Harry Maguire.
As United fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Brighton and Hove Albion last weekend, De Ligt once again started on the bench. When he was thrust into the proceedings at the Amex Stadium, he showed extremely promising signs of what he can bring to the table at Old Trafford.
Optus Sport released an interview they conducted with the Netherlands international, in which a number of topics were discussed including his transfer from Bayern, his relationship with Ten Hag and United’s illustrious history.
De Ligt said, “Amazing weeks, amazing days and I’m glad to be here. It’s an amazing experience [to be a United player]. It’s a big club, you obviously know it from outside but when you’re in here you feel the love of the fans and the atmosphere in the stadium. You feel the professionalism on the training ground and yeah, I’m really enjoying it.”
On Ten Hag, the 25-year-old remarked, “He knows me really well, I know him very well. He made me captain at Ajax. During my time at Ajax, he gave me a lot of confidence and a lot of motivation to try and lead the team.”
“This summer when United came for me, it made it really easy for me to get to the Premier League and second of all, to the biggest club in English football history. For me it was really an easy choice to make.”
De Ligt talked about United’s past teams, which conquered both England and Europe. He told Optus Sport that as a youngster coming through the ranks at Ajax, he was enamoured by the great United players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Edwin van der Sar.
The defender added, “We want to get United back where it belongs, and that’s the top of the Premier League. If you go from here [shows lower step] to here [shows higher step], you have to do it step by step.”
“I feel already we’re making good steps also from what I’ve heard at the club, everybody is really excited, motivated, and hungry.”
“I think if we can make every training session a session where we feel like, ‘Okay, today we became a better team’, then I feel we have a squad that can go really far in every competition we compete in.”
De Ligt and his teammates return to action on Sunday when they meet bitter rivals Liverpool at home.
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2024-08-27 20:00:50
