The born of the new soccer star in 2019
Mason Greenwood of the Manchester United, Liverpool’s Curtis Jones, Phil Foden from Manchester City and even Bayer Leverkusen’s midfielder Kai Havertz, amongst many other famous footballers.
All of them are incredibly talented, and it just goes to show that some players are just born with natural talent. But imagine being only 19 years old, and being the captain of one of the best European teams out there? At that age, most of us are still figuring out how life works, Matthijs de Ligt, on the other hand, has bigger fish to fry.
Soccer Star De Ligt
He is currently the skipper of 33-time Eredivisie champions, the Dutch Giants, Ajax. The team is on the brink of another title as well. Defenders hardly ever get the credit they deserve, and if there's one that deserves any praise, it’s him. The 19-year-old defender is a proper member of Ajax football club through and through, having joined the youth academy when he was only nine years old.
Ajax
De Ligt made his debut for the Ajax senior team in 2017, when he was just 17. He quickly became the club’s youngest captain. He subsequently became the youngest European player to ever score in a major European final, when he scored a goal in a match against Manchester United in the Europa League final in 2017. He is also the second youngest goalscorer ever, in the senior division. He has a reputation for being versatile, attacking down the wing, but never forgetting about his position down in defense.
For his efforts, he was given the Golden Boy award last season. A title was given to a young player under the age of 21 who was perceived to be the most impressive footballer of that particular calendar year; taking the title from Kylian Mbappé. He managed to beat out other deserving nominees like Roma’s Justin Kluivert, Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold, AC Milan’s Patrick Cutrone and Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior.
Barcelona
His team made it to the Champions League semi-finals this season but unfortunately lost to The Spurs 3-2 after a last-minute goal. He even led them to the semifinals of the Champions League for the first time in 22 years last season, after scoring the winning goal against Juventus in the quarterfinals. He’s been linked to a transfer to some big names in the business - Barcelona and Manchester United. Regardless of where he’ll end up in the next few years, he is bound to flourish and become the latest soccer star.
