Matthijs de Ligt vs Jonathan Tah stats show obvious Manchester United transfer decision

Manchester United are in the market for a number of central defenders this summer.

Having opened their business with a £43m bid for Jarrad Branthwaite in June – and upped their offer last week to £45m plus a £5m add-on, which Everton again rejected – United have also been looking at other players in the position. Hours after seeing their second bid for Branthwaite, a player they identified as a key target earlier this year, rejected, the club saw a bid of around £55m accepted by Lille for Leny Yoro. On the same day, they also agreed personal terms with Matthijs de Ligt.

The club are open to signing three centre-backs before the transfer window closes. But they have now been linked with a fourth.

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Sky Germany reported on Monday afternoon that United had enquired about Jonathan Tah late last week. The same report also acknowledged that Bayern Munich have been in talks with his club Bayer Leverkusen to sign the defender, but both clubs have yet to reach an agreement. This is apparently the same scenario that is playing out between Bayern and United over De Ligt.

With both players having spent the last two seasons in Germany since the latter joined the Bavarians from Juventus, the Manchester Evening News It’s taken a while to see how they’ve fared recently. Comparing their stats (via FBref) from the previous two campaigns provides a clear winner as to who United should prioritise signing over the other.

Looking at defensive actions (per 90 minutes), De Ligt is the more proactive player, making more tackles in the middle third (0.57) of the pitch than Tah (0.19). The Dutch international also makes a higher number overall (1.12) and wins more (0.83) than the Leverkusen defender (0.77 and 0.37). The Bayern player is also more adept at challenging (0.83 vs 0.60) and attacking (0.50 vs 0.30) dribblers, having a higher success rate (60% vs 50%).

In the air, De Ligt is the more active, taking part in 5.44 duels compared to Tah’s 3.29, but the latter wins them slightly more often (59.8% vs 63.6%). The German international also makes more clearances (3.78 vs 3.25) and interceptions (1.11 vs 1.00); however, De Ligt has not made a mistake that led to an opponent’s shot since arriving in the Bundesliga and outscores Tah in blocks (1.07 vs 1.02) as he is more active in preventing passes.

In possession, De Ligt is more accustomed to having the ball at his feet, averaging more touches in all areas of the pitch than Tah and ten more overall (86.7 vs 76.1). He also has a fractionally higher pass completion rate (92.1% vs 92.0%), but is again attempting ten more on average per game (77.9 vs 67.3), and more are progressive (5.72 vs 3.32) and over greater distances.

The main question mark is whether De Ligt will remain on the pitch. He has played just 62% of the time for Bayern since joining, compared to Tah’s 83.6% over the past two seasons.