De Ligt had Mbappe in his pocket. He had one tackle where he just coolly followed Mbappe, got round him, took the ball and re-distributed it. Without breaking a sweat. That’s grown man defending.
On De Jong, I actually think he’s on a similar developmental trajaectory to Fabregas. He can come in right now and run the team. I’ve seen 3 full games (Benfica, France, Germany) and the guy has been impressive in all of them. Runs the game maturely. I’d be confident that he could come in, replace Xhaka and already give us a more mature presence in midfield. The quality of his shooting, distribution, etc., would give us a lift even at his young age
