Man Utd hammered for spending ‘obscene’ amount on ‘robotic’ summer signing

Rob McCarthy 18 Feb 2025 11:18 AM

Matthijs de Ligt Man Utd signing criticised

One pundit has lashed out at Manchester United for spending an ‘obscene’ amount to sign a ‘robotic’ defender who called out his own teammates after Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Tottenham.

Netherlands international Matthijs de Ligt arrived at Old Trafford last summer in a double deal with full-back Noussair Mazraoui that could cost the Red Devils up to a combined £60million (€72m / $75m).

De Ligt‘s part of that fee could eventually hit £42.7m with add-ons for a player who has failed to live up to the hype since his £67.5m move to Juventus from Ajax as a 19-year-old back in 2019.

The centre-back did help Juve win Serie A and the Coppa Italia after also lifting silverware at his boyhood club Ajax, where he first played under Erik ten Hag – who pushed United to bring in the player last summer due to that previous working relationship.

De Ligt only spent a few months under Ten Hag before his Old Trafford dismissal, but has continued to feature heavily in new boss Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 system.

However, former Arsenal defender Martin Keown is unconvinced about De Ligt and says his ‘robotic’ defending is creating ‘issues’ for Man Utd.

Keown’s comments came in the wake of United’s 1-0 defeat at Tottenham on Sunday, a loss that saw Amorim’s men slide to 15th in the Premier League table as a result.

“I look at De Ligt, the amount of money they spent on him by the way is almost obscene for a centre-half,” Keown said on talkSPORT.

“He’s playing like a robot. There’s times he can clear the ball and he puts it out for a corner. He just creates issues for the team.

“Ruben Amorim needs to empower him with confidence, I’m not seeing any of that with him.”

De Ligt calls out Man Utd teammates

At least De Ligt actually fronted up after United’s defeat in north London, although he made a worrying admission about his teammates lacking hunger.

“If you lose it’s never enough,” De Ligt said. “We can speak about the personal problems, the injuries, but Tottenham have the same problems. If you lose, it is never enough.

“We played OK and created some chances. But if you lose 1-0, you didn’t score and conceded one, so we needed to improve at both ends.

“I think the urgency, the hunger to score, that is something that may be lacking. That’s not only on the attackers, it’s also on the midfield and the defenders. It’s a team thing and we definitely need to improve.”

De Ligt also admitted that United’s struggles this season have started to drain confidence from the squad.

“I think you can say [it] has taken a real hit,” he added. “Especially in the Premier League, if you lose the confidence you lose the game.

“We still had a starting XI with first-team players. It’s no excuse. It’s not nice when you lose five players in one week, but that’s part of football, part of life.

“I believe you have to deserve fortune. At the moment, apparently we don’t deserve it. I don’t believe in fortune coming out of nowhere.”