Mazraoui comfortable with pressure

The full-back, who can play on either the right or the left flank, joined the Reds alongside team-mate Matthijs de Ligt on Tuesday, signing a deal that will keep him at Old Trafford until June 2028.

Our new no.3 has conducted his first interview with club media, in which he discusses his friendship – and partnership – with De Ligt, as well as our other former Ajax players and manager Erik ten Hag.

The Amsterdam club are, of course, the Netherlands’ most famous club, while Bayern are one of Europe’s giants.

Mazraoui knows full well what he’s tasked with, at an institution of this size: “I think now during my career I’m used to nothing else.

“To perform, to have pressure that you always have to become champion, I think I’m really used to that because of the clubs I’ve played for now.

“If the club demands that, if the fans demand that of the club, they demand it of you, of course.

“You have to perform, it’s no question.”

Mazraoui, or ‘Nous’ as his team-mates refer to him, first attracted wider attention for the role he played in Ajax’s journey to the 2018/19 Champions League semi-finals, under Ten Hag.

He’s already turned out at Old Trafford in that competition, for Bayern Munich, but those who haven’t seen him play can expect a modern full-back, who is equally as comfortable in either half of the pitch.

“I think I’m a player who adapts fast,” he added. “I’m quite good under pressure.

“When they press high, I can find a way to come out of the press. Attacking-wise, I like to really support the winger.

“That’s the guy who has to score and give the assists, so I try to support him the best I can in both ways, in defending ways and also on the ball.”

Although he represents Morocco at international level - and helped the Atlas Lions to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup - Mazraoui was born in Leiderdorp, the same Dutch town from which De Ligt hails.

He speaks fluently and confidently in English but admits that, away from the pitch, he is a down-to-earth and unassuming person.

“I start a little bit as a quiet guy but yeah, in time when I start to feel comfortable I like to have a good relationship with everybody.

“I always want to have a connection also outside of the field, because I know that connection will translate in the field.

“I don’t like to talk too much about myself, how I am, but I think that’s a little bit generally how I am.”