United finished third in the League Stage of the Europa League and were the only one of the 36 teams to go through their eight fixtures undefeated. Their league form however is not something to be admired as they sit in 14th place despite huge investment and multiple managers.
The club are out of both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup and now delight has spoken ahead of their clash with Real Sociedad about how this is not a shock despite their hard work behind the scenes.
"I wouldn't call it a shock," said the Dutch international. "What I said, obviously, you would have expected a little bit better the way it is at the moment. But, yes, it's the Premier League where you're playing.
"And the Premier League is, you can't be at 99 per cent every day because then you lose games against the teams that are in the Premier League. So, obviously, this season, in a lot of games, we haven't been good enough. So we know that.”
Despite this, De Ligt was optimistic of continuing their excellent form in the Europa League despite facing one of the toughest sides in La Liga away at the Reale Arena.
"We try to improve as a team, try to improve as an individual, which also is really important, I think. And then, in the end, it has also sometimes a little bit to do with luck, also, I think.
"But we all know that we have to improve and to become better. But I'm now talking about the Premier League. (Real Sociedad) is another chance to show our worth in a European competition.
"The Europa League is not a tournament where you can win it without effort. We know we have to fight and put everything on the line to win the game. That's our first concern. We'll be ready and hopefully we can get a good result."