Over the past few years, weve witnessed a huge amount of young talents getting all the attention from the biggest European clubs.
Scouts are going crazy and teams are paying enormous figures just to make sure these young talents are going to develop their skills in their club.
One of these players is Matthijs de Ligt.
The Ajax defender was placed under the spotlight after his great performances for the Dutch team last season under Eric ten Hag.
Along with his teammate Frenkie de Jong (21) and despite his young age of 19 he is targeted with various big clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Arsenal.
Hes already captained Ajax during the new season and his performance was quite promising.
But what are the qualities that made him stand out from the others?
Who Is Matthijs de Ligt?
The 19-year-old centre-back has already showed that he is good enough physically and technically.
He likes to keep things simple, although he is one of the best passers among the Eredivisie’s defenders.
His height, strength and speed were the reason for him getting so much attention.
He already has the tactical knowledge and always finds the best positioning, so he can contribute to the team’s performance in the best possible way.
His height of 188 cm is very useful from set-pieces as he could win any aerial duel after a corner kick or so.
He has captained Ajax in 5 games in the league so far this season and the team’s amazing record with him defending is only 1 goal conceded vs 14 scored.
The team played PSV Eindhoven last weekend and registered its first defeat of the season going 0-3 down.
But De Ligt was absent due to a knee injury he picked up during the first-round Cup win against Te Werve.
He was captain in the Champions league too and took part in both legs against Dynamo Kyiv in the qualifying round.
He averaged a pass completion rate of more than 90% last season – more than any other defender in Eredivisie.
This passing ability makes De Ligt a perfect fit for many of Europe’s top sides.
Matthijs is used to help to the midfield too where he contributes with some long balls and great passing skills.
The youngster represented his country Netherlands against the world champion France during the international break, but the team went 1-2 down.
This is a map of his passing activity during the game.
As you could see only 5 of his passes were inaccurate.
That mak
