When De Ligt starts his preparation for the 2026/2027 season next summer, he will do so for the eleventh summer in a row under a different head coach than the year before.
Peter Bosz was the first head coach to meet De Ligt in the summer of 2016, before the central defender made his official debut for Ajax in the cup match against Willem II in September of that year.
After the successful season with the Amsterdam team, Bosz moved to Borussia Dortmund, after which Ajax appointed Marcel Keizer in the run-up to the 2017/2018 season. Keizer was fired after six months and was succeeded by Erik ten Hag, under whom De Ligt played his last season and a half at Ajax.
© EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
In the summer of 2019, De Ligt moved from Ajax to Italian Juventus and had to deal with Maurizio Sarri. In the strange, corona-affected 2019/2020 season, De Ligt and Sarri became champions with Juventus, but the coach was disappointed after the elimination in the Champions League against Olympique Lyon.
The Champions League matches postponed by corona were completed in record time that summer, and after Sarri’s dismissal, Andrea Pirlo took over at the champion from Turin in early August 2020. A year later, Pirlo was in turn succeeded by Massimiliano Allegri.
In the summer of 2022, De Ligt switched from Juventus to Bayern Munich and met Julian Nagelsmann as head coach. Nagelsmann was dismissed prematurely in the 2022/2023 season and in the summer of 2023 Thomas Tuchel made his debut in Bavaria. De Ligt was not sure of a starting place under Tuchel in the first half of the year, but after the winter break he started playing more and more.
Since Sir Alex Ferguson, seven (!) trainers have passed: no one can get Manchester United going
© IMAGO/Lackovic
After that season, De Ligt exchanged Bayern Munich for Manchester United, where his old Ajax coach Ten Hag was now at the helm. Ten Hag and De Ligt were not given a new, successful season together, because Ten Hag had to leave the field in October 2024. After a short period under interim coach Ruud van Nistelrooy, Amorim took over at Old Trafford.
However, the draw at Leeds United (1-1) proved fatal for Amorim last Sunday. And so the bizarre situation arises that De Ligt will play under a new head coach for the eleventh (!) summer in a row next summer.
Now it is really official: new coach Liam Rosenior signs a contract with Chelsea until 2032 (!).
