Matthijs de Ligt savaged by Man Utd fans after Harry Maguire bails out his Porto nightmare

Matthijs de Ligt has been labelled a conman by disgruntled fans after playing a major role in .

United appeared to be heading for a much-needed win in Portugal when Diogo Costa failed to keep out efforts from and Rasmus Hojlund. But Porto roared back through one goal from Pepe and two from Samu Omorodion to take a 3-2 lead.

was at fault for both of Omorodion’s goals. For the first, he failed to clear a bouncing ball on the edge of his box in the build-up before being beaten to a near-post cross by the Porto striker. The second saw Omorodion bamboozle the Dutchman with some movement, stealing a yard to blast into the roof of the net from a low cross.

De Ligt and his central defensive partner Lisandro Martinez were withdrawn as Erik ten Hag made to sure things up at the back in the 79th minute and he was shown up even more when headed in a late equaliser.

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De Ligt was signed for €45million (£38.5m) plus €5m (£4.3m) in add-ons from in the summer, with Ten Hag keen to be reunited with the former Ajax man. United fans are convinced the club has made a huge mistake after watching the Porto performance.

“De Ligt is genuinely Maguire but worse in the air. Maguire chucks Samu out the way there,” one fan tweeted after Porto’s second goal. “It’s amazing how quickly Matthijs de Ligt has forgotten how to defend since he signed for United,” another added.

“De Ligt is so bad not even his biggest hater could write a worse script for him,” a third wrote. One concluded: “Matthijs De Ligt conning yet another club into securing his signature, he’s right up there with Ali Dia.” Another fan wrote: “United didn’t think there was an issue with Bayern wanting to keep [Eric] Dier over De Ligt?”

De Ligt has been preferred to Maguire this season and did score in the 3-0 win over last month. But he has been left wanting time after time this season, with United’s backline being breached far too often.

The club are now four games without a win since their 7-0 thrashing of Barnsley in the Carabao Cup. “There were so many holes defensively,” former United midfielder Owen Hargreaves said on TNT Sports.

“Manchester United didn't stop any crosses, and then to go 3-2 down after being 2-0 up was ridiculous. The middle part of the game was crazy. That's what it's been like for a couple of years.” De Ligt is likely to find himself out of the United side when they play Aston Villa in the on Sunday.

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