Matthijs de Ligt explains that he mainly joined Juventus to work with Maurizio Sarri, who 'only stayed a year' and didn't think he was suited to the pace in Serie A.

The Ajax academy product had several options when moving in 2019 and chose the Bianconeri in a deal worth €85.5 million.

Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Gigi Buffon were all present at the time and he was just a teenager.

"When you go to a team with these legends, it becomes difficult for a young guy like me to prove myself.

I learned a lot from these guys and tried every day to take as much as possible from these players in order to become a better player," De Ligt told ESPN.

There were also tactical problems, as the Dutch international ensures he is best on the right side of central defense, but was pushed to the left by Chiellini's injury.

"It's a completely different style of defense.

At Ajax you press too high, you take risks, at Juventus it's more about what's behind you.

"In Italy the pace of the league is also a bit slower.

They won four World Cups with this style of play, so I fully understand that they think this is the right way to do it."

"I came to Juventus with the idea of ​​playing more attacking football, because Sarri was the coach and he had a really good name in the world of football, he played great football with Napoli and Chelsea.

I expected more of Ajax's style there, but unfortunately after a year he was immediately sacked," added the defender who joined Bayern Munich this summer.

Despite winning the Scudetto in his one season, Sarri was sacked to make way for Andrea Pirlo.

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