Matthijs de Ligt has insisted he didn’t move to Manchester United just to reunite with Erk ten Hag, explaining that there was more to the transfer than that.
The centre-back has been speaking to Voetbal International about his big money move from Bayern Munich to Manchester United in the summer.
The defender was one of several signings made by Ten Hag this summer as he continues to try and reshape the squad at Old Trafford.
As has been the case throughout his time in Manchester, the Dutchman has targeted players he’s worked with in the past at Ajax.
That saw De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui both arriving from Bayern Munich and joining the likes of Lisandro Martinez and Antony, who also worked with the Dutchman in the Netherlands.
Most had assumed that link to Ten Hag was key to the move for De Ligt, who has endured a difficult few years after leaving Ajax in 2019 for Juventus.
He’s sometimes struggled to live up to the hype he created during his time at the Dutch giants under Ten Hag, with neither Juventus or Bayern Munich, who paid €85.5m and €67m for him respectively, proving to be long-term destinations for him.
He, though, insists that it was not only Ten Hag that led him to joining Manchester United, as there was more to consider than that reunion.
“It’s going very well; I’m really enjoying it. It is a great club, in terms of the help and love you receive as a player,” he said.
“It is of course difficult that we have lost the last two games, especially for a club like Manchester United. But I think it is important that as a person I also really like it there, that is perhaps the most important thing. Hopefully we can link that to results in the coming weeks.
“The manager is important, but it is more the challenge I saw in the Premier League, the toughest league in the world. I am there to grow in a team that of course also needs to grow. I think that is a very nice challenge.”
De Ligt also said he’s enjoying the city more than he expected, although he’s still living in a hotel. The weather has been a rainy, though, but then again it’s hardly tropical in Munich or Turin.
