The highly-rated Netherlands international is still learning his trade at 20 years of age and admits he initially wanted to be a creative midfielder
Matthijs de Ligt has become one of the most highly-rated centre-halves in world football, but the Dutchman admits he never wanted to be a defender and saw himself as more of a creative midfielder.
The 20-year-old was a talented playmaker within the youth system at Ajax until being forced into a positional change at the age of 15.
He was not overly keen on that switch, with there a desire on his part to impact proceedings in the final third – rather than contain the threat of opponents at the opposite end of the field.