De Ligt Addresses Ten Hag’s Departure and His Own Form

Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt has acknowledged that dealing with Erik ten Hag’s departure has been “quite difficult.” Ten Hag previously managed De Light at Ajax for a season and a half between 2018 and 2019, a period during which they secured the Dutch Eredivisie title and reached the Champions League semi-final together. “It’s always quite difficult in general if a manager gets sacked,” De Ligt commented after United’s 3-0 victory over Leicester on Sunday. He added, “I have a really good relationship with Erik. I really like him as a person as well as a human being. That way I felt the most bad for him because I know what he does every day to get the team performing so that’s quite difficult.” De Ligt further explained, “In the end, you know what football is about. If the results are not there everybody needs to be questioned – the trainer, the players. In the end the trainer gets sacked, the players can stay, so we always have to look at ourselves. “So, I feel really bad for him. In the end you have to keep going, you can’t stay in the past, it’s over now with him.” Following his summer transfer from Juventus, De Ligt has begun to establish himself, starting each of United’s past four Premier League games, including contributing to a clean sheet against the Foxes. Regarding his personal performance, he stated, “For me personally, I feel quite well. I think the last seven games I start to feel really into my rhythm, feeling important for the team. If you combine it with wins,it’s really nice.”