Matthijs de Ligt criticises the Bundesliga just weeks after his move to Manchester United
Matthis de Ligt has launched a thinly veiled criticism of his former league, the Bundesliga, just weeks after signing for Manchester United.
The Dutch centre-back has only played three games for the national team. Red Devils – but has already reaffirmed how pleased he is with the £42m deal.
The 25-year-old spent two seasons playing in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, where he helped the team to the league title in 2022/23 and a DFL Super Cup title in 2022.
He played a total of 73 games for the team and was a major part of their Champions League campaign last season.
However, despite its success in Germany, From the light He has admitted that there is one thing he is much happier about now that he has moved to England.
Speaking after the NetherlandsIn the UEFA Nations League clash against Bosnia and Herzegovina, he explained exactly what it was all about.
“I'm happy with my move to Manchester United,” he said.
“Also because I'm still in the picture. The Premier League has more viewers, the Bundesliga less.”
As far as statistics are concerned, there is absolutely no arguing with De Ligt's statement.
In 2022, Red Bull Analysis found that the Premier League easily topped the list of the most watched leagues in the world.
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A total of 3.2 billion people watched the league in the 2018/19 season.
Meanwhile, the Bundesliga ranked fifth on that list with around six million fans tuning in for the season immediately after the Covid-19 break.
While those numbers may fluctuate slightly from season to season, there's no question about which league draws the most viewers.
De Ligt will no doubt have more attention on him now that he will be wearing the Manchester United shirt on match days.
But the former Juventus man will have to remember that with more attention comes more scrutiny, as he was reminded after this particular Nations League match.
The Dutch claimed a 5-2 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it was a nightmare night for De Ligt.
The two goals that Holland conceded were due, at least in part, to individual errors on their part.
His poor positioning allowed Ermedin Demirovic to remain offside for the first goal, while Edin Dzeko caught him completely off guard for the second.
This led the Dutch chief Ronald Koeman He came to his defense after the match when asked specifically about the mistakes.
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“(De Ligt) is aware himself that he was in the wrong position,” he said.
“This shouldn't happen, but mistakes are part of football. I think it's unfair to make a fuss about it.”
The Manchester United defender also acknowledged his own mistakes.
“I think you know how I feel… we won… but then comes the individual part,” he said. “I should have done better on the second goal, and I know that.
“I'm not sure what happened. I should have cleared the ball, but I kept having doubts during the play. It sucks.”
He added: “Is this match a missed opportunity for me? I don't know. I'm just trying to do my best.”
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The match will be an extra blow for De Ligt, who has not been able to have the dream start under Erik the Hag that he would have liked.
He has only started once for Manchester United, which resulted in a Liverpool thrashed 3-0.
No doubt when Manchester United return to action on Saturday 14 September with an away game against Southampton, De Ligt will be determined to reward those extra Premier League viewers with a much-improved performance.
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