The Man United signing who 'doesn't know the game' pointed out by Arsenal legend Martin Keown

Premier League title winner Martin Keown has brutally exposed a major flaw he has detected in Matthijs de Ligt's game.

The Dutch central defender joined manchester united of Bayern Munich this summer for a fee of £43m including add-ons, having also enjoyed a season in Serie A with Juventus.

De Ligt reunited with Ten Hag after the pair worked together at Ajax during their sensational run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019.

Since then, the defender has struggled to regain the form that saw Juventus pay Ajax £63m for his services and despite opening his account for United against Southampton Last month, De Ligt failed to help plug the leaks in Ten Hag's defence.

Ex-Arsenal invincible Keown has early reservations about the Dutch international and believes he would benefit from Ten Hag adding an extra body alongside him and teammate Lisandro Martínez ahead of Sunday's trip to Villa Aston.

“De Ligt has arrived, £200m has been spent on this player in transfers over the course of his career, it's quite remarkable,” Kewon told talkSPORT.

“He has been at Juventus, he has been at Bayern and Manchester United is the next club.

“He's a great athlete but he doesn't really know the game,” he added. “He doesn't know where to be. He doesn't read the game well enough.

“You could say, put him as a marker, put him in a trio (behind) with Martínez. Put him there, two Rottweilers, and put (Harry) Maguire in the middle and create a bit of solidity going to Villa Park.

“But I don't know if the coach really has it in his mind to want to play that way.”

Meanwhile, the United manager has drawn criticism to carry information forward Mark Rashford out at half-time on his side's field 3-3 draw against FC Porto on Thursday.

Rashford opened the scoring at the Estadio Do Dragao before setting up Rasmus Hojlund. Despite looking menacing, the 26-year-old strangely did not feature in the second half.

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“We have to rotate,” Ten Hag explained after the match. “(Alejandro) Garnacho, we didn't start him, but he played a great game not only on Sunday but the entire season.

“We are going fast with a comeback against Villa and they have had one more day to recover and we have an away game.”

Asked if he could understand Ten Hag's approach, talkSPORT chief football correspondent Alex Crook said: “Not at all. I can't understand the way he has handled Marcus Rashford.

“After the Liverpool game, I asked Ten Hag if it was the right thing to persist with Marcus Rashford. He had not scored since March and had not taken a single shot on goal in the Premier League.

“He (Ten Hag) said it would 'turn out well' and it did.

He (Rashford) scored three goals in two games and then abandoned him, having persisted with him when he didn't score.

“Then (against Porto) he made a significant contribution in the first half with a goal and an assist and brought it on at half-time.”