De Ligt idolised ex-Man Utd star who awkwardly called for Erik ten Hag to go

Matthijs de Ligt idolised Jaap Stam, the Manchester United legend who recently called for Erik ten Hag to go.

The Netherlands defender, 25, was recently reunited with Ten Hag, whom he played under at Ajax, after arriving from Bayern Munich on a five-year deal. One of De Ligt's inspirations as a youngster was Stam, who won the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup during his three seasons at Old Trafford.

While he was too young to have watched Stam play for United, he knows all about his reputation and has always kept close tabs on the club, particularly their centre-back pairings. Stam triggered unwanted headlines recently when he appeared to call for Ten Hag to leave Old Trafford following a chaotic 2023/24 campaign.

During an appearance on Simon Jordan's Up Front podcast, the 52-year-old said: "For Ten Hag, it's his third season at United – I think he needs to go. He needs to look at himself and how last season panned out. I don't always agree with him in terms of him saying they played good football."

Stam has since stressed he does not want Ten Hag to leave the club, insisting the "he needs to go" comment was misinterpreted. He stressed he meant United merely need to kick on this season, improve their style of play and finish higher up the table.

In keeping with that sentiment, Stam also told Jordan: "I understand that as a manager you need to be positive about your players and help them out by taking some of the pressure away. That said, it's also good to just be honest as a manager and say that your team played rubbish football.

"He needs to step up this season, there have been a lot of changes made at the club with the staff so I'm curious how it's going to work out for them."

Still, his comments ruffled feathers at Old Trafford, with Stam reportedly having awkward conversations with club figures at the opening day win over Fulham, including one of Ten Hag’s new assistants, Rene Hake. However, it was said that Hake was ‘all smiles’ as he met Stam on the touchline after the game.