De Ligt reflects on first campaign

The Netherlands international worked initially under his fellow countryman, Erik ten Hag, before Ruben Amorim took charge in November, and admits it has been a "crazy" campaign, with the Reds ultimately finishing in 15th place in the Premier League and narrowly missing out on winning the Europa League.

While accepting how challenging it has been, in an exclusive interview with Inside United, the centre-back told the official magazine that he feels like he has adapted to the new three-man defence utilised by the head coach, and is pleased to have played so often during his maiden term in England.

Although he sustained an injury at Brentford that ruled him out of the climax, including the agonising defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in Bilbao, De Ligt racked up 42 appearances and was back training before the summer break.

"Yeah, I think I’m quite satisfied," he said of his personal contribution to the cause, despite the difficulties experienced by the side. "First of all, because I played [over] 40 matches.

"Now I’m injured, unfortunately, but I have been fit for most of the season, compared to my last at Bayern, which was different. So, with that, I’m really happy. I think I contributed also in a way that could be happy with.

"Obviously, every time, it should be better and, every day, I’m training as hard as possible to get better and to help the team even more. But I believe that you can do only as much as you can do, so with that, I’m satisfied and hopefully, as I said, we can grow even more as a team and as a group to becoming even better next season."

Amorim's system has garnered a great deal of attention and De Ligt has managed to show his qualities alongside two other central defenders, rather than one, drawing on his previous experiences and taking the boss's instructions on board.

"For me, personally, obviously going from a two-man defence centre-back to a three-man defence," he said. "That’s obviously a change. So yeah, you change the way you play. The positions look the same but they are still quite different.

"So, yeah, it’s really interesting for me to get this for the first time in my career: a coach who plays this system all the time. I think you more you play in it, the more you get used to it. I can also say that, in this system, I have grown a lot as a player, so I am really happy for that.

"I think I can adapt quick to systems, from what way I have to play, so it was quite okay," he explained. "Obviously, with the team, in the beginning, it was a little bit different, because we still had to get used to the system, the way we play.

"So, personally, I felt quite comfortable, soon after we implemented the system but, as a team, obviously we had to grow to get into the system and to become better as a team.

"I’ve played this system before, it’s just not that I’ve played it every week. Sometimes, certain games we played with five in the back. With the national team [the Netherlands], for example, we played a tournament with five in the back.

"That’s what I like. I’ve grown up with four in the back so, for me, it was quite different to play every week like this. But, right now, I can say that I’m used to it and there are pros and cons in every system. It’s the same with this. But, until now, I like the way I play and the way I feel in the system, so that’s good."