Surprising Matthijs de Ligt stat eases big Manchester United concern

One surprising statistic surrounding Manchester United’s new signing, Matthijs de Ligt, could ease one major concern about the deal.

On Saturday afternoon, it was revealed that Erik ten Hag’s team had reached agreements with Bayern Munich to sign defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui.

The Dutch centre-back and Moroccan right-back are set to join the club next week in a double deal worth an initial £50 million. Both transfers include add-ons of £4.3 million each.

These moves will help with United’s concerning defensive depth, but both players are also known for their own injury issues.

In particular, De Ligt has picked up the tag of being ‘injury prone’, although this isn’t necessarily the entire truth.

The Athletic has detailed that De Ligt has only missed 27 matches through injury for club and country over the last three seasons.

What makes this even more interesting is the comparison to other defenders at Old Trafford.

Those 27 games are equal to the games Harry Maguire has missed and fewer than Victor Lindelöf and Lisandro Martínez, who missed 31 and 67 games, respectively, during that period.

The Dutch defender has certainly had his issues, particularly an old shoulder problem that kept him out for a longer period in 2020.

However, he is not simply injury-prone and could end up being a very smart purchase by those at Old Trafford.

De Ligt could make his debut in the opening Premier League clash against Fulham on Friday.

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