Snubbed Man Utd star handed fresh disappointment after Virgil van Dijk's 'punishing' comments

Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt has been axed from Ronald Koeman's Netherlands squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. De Ligt has been a mainstay in United's backline this campaign, featuring in all six of their Premier League outings.

However, despite finding his feet again at Old Trafford in recent weeks, Koeman has dropped the towering centre-back from his squad for the upcoming international break. The snub comes just over a year after the United defender faced fierce criticism for his displays whilst on international duty.

During the Netherlands' 2-2 draw with Germany in September's international break last year, De Ligt was culpable for both of the opposition's goals.

Germany's opener saw De Ligt give away possession in his own territory, allowing Deniz Undav to level the scores, before his botched clearance enabled Joshua Kimmich to fire Germany ahead.

The errors prompted Koeman to withdraw the defender at the interval, bringing on Brighton's Jan Paul van Hecke in his place. Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk was amongst those to criticise De Ligt's poor showing, with the Reds captain condemning the defender's decision-making at the back.

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Van Dijk said at the time: "This is football. You have to learn from this. It was one moment but at the highest level you will get punished for it."

Koeman supported his Dutch skipper's words, admitting that while he would have preferred to leave De Ligt on the field, he felt compelled to substitute him.

The Dutch manager said: "Of course I would rather have kept Matthijs de Ligt on the pitch.

"It just looks like he is now in a period where all his mistakes are being punished. I gave him a new chance today, but eventually protected him by taking him off."

Whilst De Ligt's displays for his country have come under fire, the defender will believe his performances have got better throughout the past year and he has enjoyed a decent start to the campaign for United.

The 26-year-old won't get the chance to demonstrate his value to the Netherlands during this international window, however, and will instead stay to train at Carrington.

This means De Ligt can concentrate on his club form after he called on the rest of the United squad to raise their game in support of struggling boss Ruben Amorim.

After a crushing 3-1 loss to Brentford, the centre-back acknowledged that the team lacks belief and must perform better - but it's not entirely down to Amorim.

He said: "Of course, I mean it's always easy to look to the manager, but in the end the players on the pitch have to do it. We can't say the goals we conceded, or the chances we conceded, are because of what... I don't know, you guys always talk about the system.

"That also has a lot to do with focus, concentration and, if that's lacking in key moments, it's going to make a difference."

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