Manchester United are reportedly pushing to sign Netherlands and Bayern Munich central defender Matthijs de Ligt this summer. The 24-year-old has been offered a five-year contract from United which will expire in the summer of 2029 according to the reports from De Telegraaf.
United manager Erik ten Hag needs to sign at least one central defender this summer to partner Lisandro Martinez after Raphael Varane left the club as a free agent this summer. Ten Hag and de Ligt have both worked together at Ajax and this transfer would reunite them once again.
It has been suggested that Ten Hag has made several telephone calls to the Dutch international, who is currently representing his country at Euro 2024 in Germany. The Netherlands face Romania in the Round of 16 in the competition on Tuesday evening and they will be hoping to win that match.
Italian transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has previously talked about United’s interest in de Ligt this summer and things are going fast based on reports in the Netherlands and this signing would be a smart move for United who require experience and youth in the centre of their defence.
United will most likely be playing from the back next season, as they have attempted during the last two seasons of Erik ten Hag. De Ligt is comfortable playing out from the back as this will have been instructed to him during his academy days at Ajax – to play possession based football.
Last season the injury crisis at United hit the central defence for the majority of the season and it led to Casemiro playing in the centre of the defence for the last few matches of the Premier League season – it was not great to see and something really needed to be done about it this summer.
De Ligt has a contract at Bayern Munich which expires in the summer of 2027, so there will be a substantial fee to release him from that contract – especially as it is United wanting to purchase the player. Last season, the 24-year-old made 30 appearances, scoring two goals and one assist.
Despite his age, de Ligt has made 307 senior appearances for Ajax, Juventus and Bayern, scoring 26 goals and assisting 12 – which at the age of 24 shows the level of experience that he has. Obviously, a player like de Ligt is not there to score goals but he can do that, which is great.
Written by Paul
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