As I said before; this guy is the real deal. Matthijs de Ligt has maintained his starting spot under new coach Marcel Keizer, so he was in the starting line-up against Rosenborg tonight. And even though he didn’t improve on his timing defensively and his defensive positioning he really impressed me in this game. He’s missing the presence of Davinson Sánchez on his side and can’t make up for his loss with Nick Viergever playing next to him. Just to make a comparison; it’s pretty much the same thing when we’re playing with Aleix Vidal, Gerard Piqué and Jordi Alba at the back. Piqué would be isolated and caught out of position most of the times. Same thing goes for De Ligt. Without Davinson Sánchez he’s missing the basic defensive skills; strength, tackling and pure ‘bullying strikers off the ball’ qualities.
However, he really impressed me against Rosenborg. He was playing like a classic Libero and reminded me of the way a young Piqué was playing for Barcelona. The comparison to Koeman would be a bridge too far, but his build-up play is really top notch. He has these classic rushes in his game; firstly to intercept the ball in midfield, secondly to almost play as a second central midfielder. His passing, his interceptions and his game-reading skills are world class.
He needs some time to develop his defensive game at Ajax, but we should be keeping an eye on this lad. De Ligt isn’t ready for the next step, but is ceiling is very high. He could be compared to Virgil van Dijk when he was playing for FC Groningen, but I think this guy is mentally lightyears ahead of Van Dijk at this age. Seriously, it would love to see De Ligt at Barcelona in a few years. He could be world class for us.
