Matthijs de Ligt

“Pressure is normal in football.”

“As long as I feel good with my behaviour and how I dress, I am satisfied. The most important thing is to perform well on the field, then people respect you much more than when you're wearing certain clothes.”

“Criticism is not bad, it also makes you sharper.”

“Since the emergence of that Barcelona team, the 'tiki-taka' team, everybody has wanted to play from the back. And to play from the back, you need defenders who are good with the ball. That's why technical ability is really important in my role.”

“My profession is football player. I want to be a star on the field.”

“I watched a lot of football when I was younger.”

“It's always nice to go somewhere and to feel that you're part of a new project, to feel that you're part of something new.”

“At Ajax you press really high, you take risks, at Juventus it's more about what is behind you. In Italy the pace of the league is also a little bit slower.”

“I did not only move to Manchester United for Ten Hag.”

“I played a lot in midfield, I scored some goals, gave some assists, and then suddenly they said to me it would be better for my career to go one position back, to centre-back. At the beginning, I was thinking: 'I don't like being a defender,' but now I'm starting to realise that the way I was brought up like a midfielder is helping me.”

“You look at what's the best for you, you need to make your own decision.”

“Man United fit really well with the clubs I have been at already. Ajax, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, they are all the same bracket.”

“To grow, sometimes you have to accept you made the wrong decisions.”

“Every player wants to play as many games as possible.”

“In Italy they ask a lot of defenders. It's not possible to make a mistake. They're hard on them.”

“For me, it's an honour to play for Ajax and deal with the pressure that comes with it.”

“I have learned during my football career that the start of a tournament or season is fun, but that it is mainly about the end.”

“At every club that I have played, the pressure has been really high. To be fair at United, it is perhaps the highest it has been especially because United is still, and historically, the biggest club in England.”

“I'm grateful to all the people I've learned from. But in the end, you learn most from yourself, by making different experiences in different situations. That makes you a better player.”

“The Premier League is the biggest league in the world, so the pressure is maybe a little bit more, because there are a lot of viewers, a lot of fans are watching it.”