'No doubt' - Matthijs de Ligt has Erik ten Hag backing to show true colours for Manchester United

Matthijs de Ligt will return to Carrington on Thursday hoping a familiar face can lift the gloom after Manchester United's new centre-back saw his international reputation plummet further during the September break.

De Ligt has gone from the future of the Dutch defence to a bit-part player and having got his chance to re-stake his claim during a Nations League double-header against Bosnia and Germany, the audition couldn't have gone much worse.

He is probably wondering how it has come to this. Captain of Ajax as a teenager before a €75m move to Juventus in 2019, he had 33 caps for his country by the time he was 22 but has added only 14 more in the previous three years, during which time he has moved from Turin to Bayern Munich and now from Bavaria to United.

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His price tag has gone down with each of those moves, although part of that is down to external factors rather than on-pitch performances alone. He has played fairly regularly for Juventus and Bayern without quite doing enough to make those clubs think he is the future of their defence.

For the Netherlands, De Ligt spent all six Euro 2024 fixtures on the bench without playing a minute, but returned to the starting XI this month with Stefan de Vrij out injured. The United defender played the full game in the 5-2 win against Bosnia and owned up to a mistake after the game, but was hooked at half-time against Germany on Tuesday.

Dutch boss Ronald Koeman said De Ligt was in the "wrong position" against Bosnia but backed his defender to come good, with De Ligt putting the issue down to rustiness. But at half-time against