Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt has admitted that the pressure at Old Trafford is the highest he has felt at any stage during his career to date.

De Ligt was picked up by United in the summer after Erik ten Hag made a concerted effort to sign his former centre-back. His performances since arriving have been inconsistent at best which has been the theme for the majority of the squad.

That is why United currently find themselves languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League table, closer to the relegation zone than the top four. Speaking to former Reds striker Dion Dublin on Football Focus, the Dutch defender admitted there is a lot of negativity circulating around the football club at present.

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"Man United fit really well with the clubs I have been at already," De Ligt began. "Ajax, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, they are all the same bracket.

"At every club that I have played, the pressure has been really high. To be fair at United, it is perhaps the highest it has been especially because United is still, and historically, the biggest club in England.

"The way we have performed this year, we know, has not been good enough so what happens then is that the pressure becomes bigger and bigger and bigger so you feel it more. It is a lot more negative than positive and you can feel it as a player.

"The only thing that I am happy about is that I didn’t make the step from Ajax to here because maybe it would have been too much. It is similar to when I was in Italy in those first three months I could not make a mistake because I was signed for £75m.

"I learned from failure and disappointment to deal with the critics and I think that helped me a lot in this situation." United will switch their attention away from their Premier League struggles on Thursday night when they host Rangers in the Europa League.