Jamie Carragher fumes at Matthijs de Ligt in fresh dig at struggling Man Utd star

Jamie Carragher has aimed a fresh dig at Matthijs de Ligt as the Manchester United star struggled once again in his side's draw with Aston Villa.

The Dutchman had been dropped to the bench for Sunday's visit to the Midlands following awful performances against Tottenham and Porto. But boss Erik ten Hag was forced to bring him on at half-time after an injury to Harry Maguire.

But it was another difficult afternoon for De Ligt, who won just won tackle and lost four of his defensive duels. While there were high hopes that he could help to shore up United's backline, the 25-year-old has done little to live up to his £42million price tag.

And his performances have begun to draw criticism from former Liverpool star Carragher. A week on from blasting him after United's defeat to Spurs, Carragher again took aim at De Ligt in the wake of a Villa chance.

He said in commentary on Sky Sports: "It looked like it was going to be a certain goal! I don't know what De Ligt is doing. [Diogo] Dalot turns his back and gets a little bit of luck."

Carragher had also questioned Ten Hag's insistence that he had been rotating De Ligt and centre-back partner Lisandro Martinez. Ahead of Sunday's clash, Carragher said: “You don’t rotate centre-backs. They’ve been dropped.”

It is the third time in a week Carragher has aimed a dig at De Ligt. Following the defeat to Spurs, Carragher singled out the defender for his role in the opening goal, before retweeting the video of his analysis following the draw at Porto.

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De Ligt endured another difficult day in the draw with Aston Villa
(Image: Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

"I've noticed this with De Ligt and a lot of centre-backs, I don't understand why they don't fill the space and come over. The striker just behind him has got nothing to do with him, that is Martinez's job," Carragher told Sky Sports last week.

"If De Ligt goes over, Martinez comes across. He looks over his shoulder here, forget that! Forget it. Get here [the space Van de Ven runs into]. This is a brilliant run, amazing. But Van de Ven runs because he sees the space.

"Listen, the fullback gets caught out at the back post, we see him with his hand up. Again I want to go to De Ligt. This sums Manchester United up over the last two or three years. Pressing and always being late.

"They're locked in here, you've got the front three of Tottenham locking in the back four and you have him here free. There's two men on one player. De Ligt should already be over. We run it on and just look at De Ligt flying across, flying into the challenge.

"It comes from his starting position. I can talk about United's midfield, running at the back four. But where's De Ligt? The right-back's come up and look where De Ligt is. You've got to get over. So in every situation in the first-half, De Ligt, a player they brought in for huge money, is completely out of position."

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