Matthijs de Ligt signing is proof Erik ten Hag is all-in on his Dutch gamble
The Red Devils manager has spent big money bringing in players with links to the Eredivisie in the hopes of reshaping Manchester United’s recent fortunes
“Manchester is red,” read the message on a football club’s social-media account; though not from the Manchester club who play in red. It was a cheeky point made by Ajax, surveying Manchester United’s recruitment drive and the addition of two of their alumni, Matthis de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, on the same day. It means that, in the former Ajax manager Erik ten Hag’s reign, United have now spent around a quarter of a billion pounds on his Ajax players.
Not that all the proceeds have gone to Amsterdam: De Ligt and Mazraoui arrived from Bayern Munich, just as Andre Onana had taken the long route from the Netherlands, via a one-season stay at Internazionale. But Ajax cashed in to the tune of £56m for Lisandro Martinez and, ridiculously, £86m for Antony.
De Ligt and Mazraoui, meanwhile, could debut for United against Fulham along with Joshua Zirkzee, a compatriot of the centre-back and the United manager. There is a theme: 11 of Ten Hag’s 20 signings for the club have played in the Netherlands, though the Eredivisie only stands sixth in Uefa’s rankings. They include the non-scoring Wout Weghorst – two goals in 31 games – and the invariably injured Tyrell Malacia. They include Mason Mount, from his loan spell at Vitesse Arnhem, and Christian Eriksen, though he left Ajax nine years before joining United. They include Sofyan Amrabat, who played for Ten Hag at Utrecht. If Ten Hag had got his way in 2022, they would have included Frenkie de Jong, too.
If New York was once called New Amsterdam, perhaps that tag should now be applied to Manchester. And yet Ten Hag, in a defence of his spending, insisted signings were not driven by nepotism and that there was widespread agreement about them.
“Not for favouritism,” he said. “First of all, it is club decisions, none of them is only my decision. It is always backed or even brought up through the scouting, recruitment, technical director or sporting director. It is a decision made by more than only one. But, some, you know also players and personalities and it has to fit also in the finance.”
There could seem a peculiarity that while United’s old regime of chief executive Richard Arnold and football director John Murtough let Ten Hag have his way, their new powerbrokers appear to have followed suit. Enter co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, CEO Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox, none of them from the Netherlands, and all intent on bringing change and yet United have carried on going Dutch. Ten Hag’s revamped backroom staff is full of Dutchmen: Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rene Hack, Jelle ten Rouwelaar.
Nevertheless – this year anyway – Ten Hag may have been right to reference finance. Martinez may represent his best buy to date, but Antony is arguably the worst in United’s history, given the exorbitant price and his negligible output. Yet this summer, United look to have got more value for money. De Ligt is the cheaper of the centre-backs they have signed and Mazraoui arrives for less than United recouped for Aaron-Wan Bissaka, who joined West Ham for £15m. He cost €15m (£12.8m) of a €60m double deal.
The Moroccan’s versatility and ability to play left-back forms part of his appeal. “In English football there is always pressure on the ball and one of his key attributes is that it’s very difficult to put him under pressure,” said Ten Hag. It is harder to say the same of Wan-Bissaka, given his limitations in possession.
United have struck a cheaper deal for De Ligt, meanwhile, than his two previous clubs did: an initial €45m compared to the €75m Juventus paid and the €67m Bayern Munich forked out. It gives him a remarkable pedigree: he will become the first footballer ever to play for all of Ajax, Juventus, Bayern and United, arguably the four biggest clubs in their respective countries.
Yet the diminishing prices tell a tale: the defender’s fortunes have declined since Ten Hag made him Ajax’s youngest captain at 18 and he skippered them to a Champions League semi-final. “He told me right from the start: ‘You are an example for the team, and I want you to be captain.’ I would never have expected that at that moment, but it was such a great honour,” De Ligt said.
They have been separated for five years: a time in which De Ligt was expected to become one of the world’s outstanding centre-backs. Instead, he spent the summer being kept out of the Netherlands team by Stefan de Vrij. De Ligt described Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini as “defensive masters”; he was supposed to be their successor at Juventus, but was sold. For some of last season, he was Bayern’s third-choice centre-back and was allowed to leave by a manager, in Vincent Kompany, who was an outstanding central defender himself. That early promise may not have been fully realised.
“He has fantastic potential,” Ten Hag said. “But Matthijs turns 25 this week and he has almost 375 games for Ajax, Juventus and Bayern Munich [and the Netherlands] under his belt. That is incredible. Now he is turning into his best years. He has great skills as a football player but also in his character, his personality. I am very pleased to have him here.”
De Ligt will see plenty of familiar faces among the Dutch connection. And if Ten Hag’s greatest achievement in management was taking Ajax to the last four of the Champions League, perhaps it is understandable he was keen on a reunion. De Ligt, too, could be forgiven for hoping to rewind time, to a happier period for them both. But with every transfer, it amounts to more of an experiment: how the Eredivisie old boys and Ajax all-stars can fare in English football.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments