Why do we love the Dutch so much? Man United new boy Matthijs De Ligt joins an illustrious list of Netherlands imports, but success isn't always a given in the Premier League

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From Johan Cruyff to Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten to Dennis Bergkamp, the Netherlands have exported footballers more successfully than most other countries.

Their best players have helped deliver trophy-laden eras at major clubs and Manchester United hope their latest signing will continue that trend.

Matthijs De Ligt has already played for three giants of the European game — Ajax, Bayern Munich and Juventus — and joins his fourth one at the age of 25. The £43million deal takes his total career transfer fees to nearly £170m. For a player who is not a regular for the Netherlands and has obvious weaknesses, that is pretty steep.

Yet De Ligt's high fee goes to the heart of a love affair European football has had with the Dutch ever since Cruyff spun past Sweden defender Jan Olsson in June 1974, performing the turn that still carries his name.

The impact Cruyff's compatriots Arnold Muhren and Frans Thijssen had on English football cannot be overstated. Had they failed at Ipswich, who knows whether Bergkamp, Ruud van Nistelrooy or Virgil van Dijk would have had the chance to succeed? Instead, the pair helped Ipswich win the 1981 UEFA Cup and finish second in Division One two seasons in a row.

New Manchester United signing Matthijs De Ligt joins a long list of Netherlands imports

The defender joins United having already played for three European giants

Virgil van Dijk is the most high-profile Dutch player in the league right now

Between them, Muhren and Thijssen cost less than £400,000. Such bargains have seldom been available for Dutch players since. Muhren and Thijssen contributed to that, but so did what might be labelled 'the Ajax tax'.

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Ever since the days of Cruyff, Ajax has been a byword for excellence in youth development and the Amsterdammers trade like heck on that label.

Ajax's 1995 Champions League-winning side, which included Marc Overmars, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Clarence Seedorf and Edgar Davids, featured nine Dutchmen in the starting XI plus matchwinner Patrick Kluivert off the bench.

The combined transfer fees of that group across their careers totalled £120m. If that sounds relatively low, remember the sums being thrown around were much lower 30 years ago, and that many of that Ajax squad ran down their contracts and earned huge signing-on fees and wages by moving on free transfers.

De Ligt, Frenkie De Jong and Donny van De Beek were part of the 2018-19 Ajax side who should probably have won the Champions League but collapsed spectacularly in the semi-final against Tottenham.

That did not put off suitors, with Barcelona paying £74m for De Jong, Juventus £73.4m for De Ligt, and United £33.4m for Van De Beek.

The trio sum up the Dutch enigma neatly. Despite various attempts to sell him to improve the balance sheet, De Jong has been a fine player for Barca. De Ligt has been solid enough for his clubs without regaining his Ajax form, while Van De Beek has struggled desperately and is now trying to revive his career with surprise Champions League qualifiers Girona.

The likes of Arnold Muhren (left) and Frans Thijssen (right) were among the early successes of Dutch footballers in England's top division

When it works

The majority of Dutch players, especially those who graduate from the Ajax system, are schooled in a certain way, with emphasis placed on technique, tactical flexibility and possession-based football.

Give them a club and manager who understand that, and the rewards are obvious.

Bergkamp working with Arsene Wenger at Arsenal for a decade either side of the millennium, after a miserable spell under cautious coaches at Inter Milan, is one of the best examples in the English game, but Gullit, Van Basten and Rijkaard at Arrigo Sacchi's AC Milan is probably the most famous success story, along with Ronald Koeman and Cruyff himself at Barcelona.

Find that magic formula and the transfer fee scarcely matters. Does anyone really quibble over the high fees for Van Nistelrooy or Van Dijk? We remember only the match-winning performances and the trophies — four for Van Nistelrooy as a prolific striker at Old Trafford, eight and counting for Van Dijk, the supreme centre back, at Liverpool.

Dennis Bergkamp's tenure at Arsenal is an example of when one of the signings have worked

Ruud van Nistelrooy was a raging success at United - something De Ligt will be keen to mirror

When it doesn't

Bergkamp at Inter and De Ligt at Juventus are examples of how not to do it. Counter-attacking football did not suit Bergkamp, so asking him to adapt to early-1990s Inter — a tough watch even for Serie A lovers — was an accident waiting to happen.

It was the same with De Ligt, who should have followed De Jong to Barcelona and may have done so but for the relationship his agent, the late Mino Raiola, had with Juve.

He had become accustomed to bringing the ball out of defence at Ajax, but under the conservative Max Allegri in Turin, De Ligt found himself alongside two of the best centre backs in the game — Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini — and the comparison did not flatter him.

There are question marks about his mobility and positional sense and those doubts should worry United fans. Since signing De Ligt in 2022, Bayern have brought in three more senior centre backs — hardly a vote of confidence.

Then there is the 'Eredivisie curse' — players who move from the Dutch top flight to England and flop, such as Vincent Janssen, Mateja Kezman and Alfonso Alves. Luis Suarez proved a spectacular exception and Cody Gakpo is doing well at Liverpool, but the physical gap between the Dutch and English top flights is so great that moving directly from one to the other is a risk.

Perhaps it is better to see how Dutchmen perform in a stronger league before plunging in.

De Ligt struggled at Juventus, but was coached to play a different way to what he was used to

There has been a number of occasions where players moving from the Eredivisie to the Premier League have flopped - Cody Gakpo is current going well at Liverpool

But fellow Dutchman Vincent Janssen had a torrid time at Tottenham

Buy or avoid?

There are always exceptions, but the formula feels fairly simple. If you're going Dutch, at least give them a chance. Make sure your style, manager and squad are set up for the player, because the chances are you'll be repaid in spades. The Dutch are generally excellent linguists, too, which helps them adapt.

But put them in a dour team, where there's an emphasis on direct football and counter-attacking, and it's more likely you'll end up with a fed-up footballer on your hands and a huge hole in your balance sheet.