Since becoming a member of from AFC Ajax through the summer time Transfer windowMatthijs de Ligt turned one of many defenders for Julian Nagelsmann at Bayern Munich. Along with Dayot Upamecano, they’ve developed a centre-back partnership that appears an increasing number of highly effective with every passing match.

In fact, Lucas Hernandez was in wonderful kind with Bayern earlier than he suffered a torn ACL on the World Cup whereas serving with France, however De Ligt’s progress at Bayern has grow to be much more evident since he Simply I signed final summer time. Stepping straight into the motion throughout a pre-season pleasant win in Washington, D.C. simply hours after formally finishing his transfer from Ajax could have set the tone for a way his Bayern tenure ended.

De Ligt has additionally been studying tales from a few of soccer’s most legendary defenders to assist enhance his profession, as he just lately revealed in an interview with Athletic’s Rafael Honigstein. Having taken the helm of Ajax on the ripe previous age of 19, there isn’t a doubting De Ligt’s management qualities, and the way shortly he built-in into Nagelsmann’s programs at Bayern is equally spectacular. His newest exploit got here within the type of a powerhouse efficiency in Bayern’s 1-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in Barcelona Champions League Spherical of 16 (Second 1), the place he managed to assist maintain Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr. and Kylian Mbappe (partially) out of motion.

“I’ve learn biographies from Per Mertesacker, Jaap Stam, Sol Campbell, John Terry…they assist me enhance my recreation, drawing on their experiences. Generally they are saying issues that make you assume you are not alone,” de Ligt instructed Honigstein ( by way of @tweet).

Very similar to Bayern Henrond On a run of 4 matches with no win within the Bundesliga, De Ligt is not any stranger to creating errors thus far this season. Throughout that Bundesliga run, it was De Ligt’s late concession of a penalty that gave Stuttgart a 2-2 draw on the Allianz Area when Serho Gerassi stepped up and transformed the successful penalty himself. Had De Ligt not conceded the penalty together with his outstretched leg, Bayern would have been two factors higher now with only a bit extra room to breathe over second-placed Union Berlin.

Regardless of some particular person errors, dDe Ligt stated that having the ability to be taught from a number of the recreation’s legends by studying their tales helped him be taught to take care of particular person errors. “For instance, in the event you make a mistake, you will really feel prefer it’s the top of the world while you’re younger. However they will say, ‘No, it isn’t. It actually is not. I discovered lots from that,'” he defined.