Man United defender Matthijs de Ligt has been in great form this season and has reflected on his displays.De Ligt has played well this season.(Image: MUTV)

Matthijs de Ligt believes he’s entering his prime at Manchester United. De Ligt is the only player to have played every minute of United’s Premier League season.

The Dutchman has been excellent and is hugely important to Ruben Amorim. De Ligt has been a standout performer in the dressing room and helped United to claim a victory against Liverpool at Anfield.

De Ligt joined from Bayern Munich for an initial €45million (£38.4m) in the summer of 2024 and his performances in his first season were mixed, but he is now delivering consistent displays.

The defender recently sat down for an interview with MUTV and put his strong performances down to having a strong pre-season. De Ligt also suggested the best is yet to come from him.

“I am feeling quite good, to be fair,” said De Ligt. “I am happy with the way I started, personally. I feel good physically and mentally. I try to help the team as much as possible in every game.

“Obviously, we are not in the place where we want to be in the long term, but I feel like we are also improving as a team and, hopefully in the next weeks, we can get some good results.”

Asked for the reasons behind his improved form, De Ligt said: “Well, the first thing that’s really important is I had a proper pre-season. I feel, for me and my body, pre-season is always really important.

“I think it was one of the first pre-seasons in five or six years when I didn’t have a transfer, an injury or a Euros. The last time was probably my last season at Ajax and that was actually one of the best seasons of my career! I feel it is a big thing that is really important. “I feel that mentally and physically I am in a really good place. I feel quite confident. Obviously, my teammates and the manager help a lot because they give me this confidence.

“I think I am also used to the Premier League as well now, the pace, which helps also. Overall, these are the most important things that take me to this level at the moment.”

He continued: “I am a really big critic of myself but I have become a little softer because sometimes I was too critical and it didn’t help me much. Now I am a little bit more balanced, I think.”

“They [friends and family] do provide feedback, but not in a way that’s too much, they just speak to me about the game. Mostly, it is more about how the game went for the team instead of my performances, it is more about how we played, if we won or not.

“They know that I know how I played. Nobody has to say to me, before or after a game, how I played or what I should have done differently because they know that I am the biggest critic of myself.”

De Ligt added: “I feel that I am coming to my prime age now. I think as a defender, normally around 29, 30, 31, you are at your best. I am now 26 and I think I have experienced a lot in my career and I can use this experience to my advantage. Hopefully I can keep continuing that.”

–

Here at The Manchester Evening News, we are dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester United coverage and analysis.

Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest United news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe.

You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.

And, finally, if you would rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Manchester is Red podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and you can also watch along on YouTube.