Bayern’s Matthijs de Ligt is happy with the arrival of Daley Blind to Bayern Munich. The Orange-international thinks that the German record champion should be able to achieve the goals without the injured Manuel Neuer and Lucas Hernández.
Neuer is sidelined for the rest of the season due to a skiing accident and Hernández suffered a knee injury during the World Cup that will keep him out for a long time. It is a loss for Bayern. “Of course it is always difficult to lose players like Manuel and Luci, but we also have many other players with a lot of quality,” De Ligt said during a press conference at Bayern’s training camp in Qatar.
In addition, Bayern is active on the transfer market. A replacement for Neuer is still pending, but with Blind it already has Hernández’s replacement in the house. ‘A great asset’, De Ligt calls his fellow international and former teammate at Ajax. The defender adds, “My relationship with Daley is very good. He is a very good player, intelligent and very strong on the ball. I think he will help us win important games.”
After the World Cup in Qatar, in which he did not play much to his disappointment, De Ligt feels ready for the second half of the season with Bayern. “It was quite difficult not to play in the World Cup, but you are part of the team and you have a role to play even if you are not playing. Now I’ve had three weeks of vacation. We work hard and it’s not easy, but we’re having a lot of fun here with the guys.”
The club, the coach
De Ligt, who came over from Juventus last summer, enjoyed his first period at Bayern. “I’m happy with how my first months at Bayern went, but I want to reach a higher level. I can do even more, especially on the ball. In the first six months I mainly focused on defending. Physically I have become stronger. This training camp is very important to me,” the former Juventus star mentioned.
De Ligt confided to trainer Julian Nagelsmann after his arrival that Bayern train harder than Juventus and had to get used to the intensity. He likes Nagelsmann’s way of working. De Ligt added, “He is a coach who talks to his players a lot. He looks a bit like Erik ten Hag, my coach at Ajax. I feel that I am getting a little better every day, I feel good with this trainer.”
Bayern is working towards the resumption of the Bundesliga on Friday, January 20. RB Leipzig, the number three in the ranking, is then the opponent. “Leipzig is a good team, they are only six points behind us,” says De Ligt. “We have to approach every game with the same intensity, but the first game against Leipzig is immediately a big one. We want to start well.”
