This is Matthijs de Ligt
De Ligt brings a massive body. He is 1.88 meters tall and weighs 89 kilograms. The 22-year-old is muscular and can take on any striker. His one-on-one prowess is impressive, both in the air and on the ground. In dribbling, offensive players can hardly get past him.
He is also good at passing. The football training at Ajax Amsterdam is immediately recognizable. De Ligt likes to combine with the defensive midfielder and then trigger the game himself. Above all, his long diagonal balls are a weapon. An element that Bayern fans are very familiar with from Jérôme Boateng’s time.
He has also learned from the likes of Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini over the past three years since moving to Turin. “Giorgio plays as if he were reading a book,” de Ligt enthused in the Guardian.
The Dutchman brings the whole package with him. Defending at the highest level has become more difficult, he said in the “Guardian” and explained: “There were those who just stood in the penalty area and headed balls away, but couldn’t really play football. And there were defenders who handled the ball really well , but couldn’t defend. The trend now is that all defenders are pretty complete. They’re all fast, they’re all strong, they can play with the ball. The level is different.” De Ligt is the prototype of this generation.
Its most important property
While he learned at club level from European champions such as Chiellini and Bonucci, de Ligt plays in the “Elftal” alongside what is probably the best central defender in the world: Virgil van Dijk. The Liverpool chief of defense is also the complete package of a defender, bringing both the playful and the physical elements.
The player types van Dijk and de Ligt are similar, which Lothar Matthäus already noticed. The German record national player told the “Bild” newspaper: “He’s a van Dijk type, can take on the role of defensive chief at Bayern, who is missing there. He’s one of the best central defenders in Europe, at 22 such a young player, that Bayern would have taken care of this position for the next few years. A great transfer if it works – a huge gain.”
Exactly the aspect of the defense chief is also the decisive one when it comes to the assessment of why Bayern really wanted De Ligt. Back in 2018, when he was just 18, he led Ajax onto the pitch with the captain’s armband on his arm. De Ligt does not shy away from responsibility, likes to lead the way. He fills a vacuum that has existed at Bayern since David Alaba left. Niklas Süle, Lucas Hernandez, Dayot Upamecano and Tanguy Nianzou did not take on the leading role last year. The 80 million man from the Netherlands should now do that.