Ronald Koeman responds when asked why Matthijs de Ligt is not in Netherlands squad despite Man Utd form

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Manchester United centre-back Matthijs de Ligt is not part of the Netherlands squad.

Matthijs de Ligt has not started for his country since November 2024, and in the last international break he was selected to play only two minutes.

While that was not massively exerting for the defender, he spent the break training hard for his country to try and get into the squad.

This time around he has a chance for a proper rest, after he was not named in the Netherlands squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

Ronald Koeman comments on Matthijs de Ligt

Ronald Koeman was asked at his press conference why he had not included Matthijs de Ligt in his squad.

Koeman did not give a clear response, but did say he had communicated improvement points to the Manchester United centre-back.

He told the Netherlands’ website that it was not an easy decision to leave the star out, who has 51 caps for his country.

Koeman said: “That sometimes makes my head hurt, because of the central defenders I sometimes have to drop. That’s the least enjoyable part of my job.

“I have a lot of contact with Matthijs, he’s also a guy who asks for feedback, about what he needs to do to be included.”

De Ligt has performed well for United

Matthijs de Ligt has started all seven Premier League matches for Manchester United this season, and so is ticking the box of playing regularly.

He has also been performing at a high level, with one exception, in Manchester United’s defeat to Brentford when the entire defence performed poorly.

If Koeman wanted an excuse to leave De Ligt out, he could point to that game, but that would be ignoring his excellent performances during United’s other matches.

De Ligt was recently praised by Rio Ferdinand, who said: “I think he’s been magnificent this season.

“Solid in all departments, and I think he’s put himself in place to be probably the first name on the sheet.”

Sadly for De Ligt it is Koeman picking the Dutch team and not Ferdinand, and he has to work hard to win him over to reclaim his place, in an important World Cup year.